General
by Conscripts
Summary: He never expects to be transferred to the realm irrelevant to his past position. But thanks to that, he can now lead the forefront against the Abyssal who shattered his childhood. Join the JSDF's former infantry general as he struggles with his past self while taking commands of beautiful maidens in battle, and waging war on all Abyssal fleets across the Pacific.
1. Chapter 1: Arrival

**Welcome all readers to my first fanfiction, also my first attempt to write something. Because this is the first time I write fictions so please don't be harsh on me.**

 **The fiction's main OC is a sole male like most teitoku fictions, but there will be some difference in personality. For my first fic, the traits of my MC depart from the usual slacker or pervert. The characteristic of my main will be shown in the course of the story, so stay tune to that.**

 **Also, this fic may have a lot of battle scenes, so forgive me for that. I used them to develop character's personality and continue the stories since I can't find another approach to develop my mains. The combat mechanics of the game will not apply here, though I will still use a bit of it. There will also be some strategy planning scenes so if you don't like them, you may skip.**

 **I hope you'll read and enjoy my fiction and I'll try to keep this story up-to-date as frequent as possible. Reviews are highly appreciated, constructive criticisms are even more appreciated.**

 **Disclaimer:** **Kancolle belongs to Kadokawa gaming, all characters except for the OC belonged to their respective owners**

 **Update: Some contents of chapter 1 has been rewritten so that the MC looked less stupid  
**

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Chapter 1: Arrival

"I'm completely lost"

The young recently-promoted Admiral, with a skeleton-like body but rather boyish-looking face and silky black hair, was looking for Chinatsu Naval Base, the main headquarter of the K.M.S project, on foot for his 1st day as a high-ranking general. But it seemed that on his own, he couldn't navigate well through the island. After all, the boat that carried him all the way from mainland Japan dropped him somewhere else on the island instead of the port. He sighed lightly, sitting down on a rock nearby, pulled out a small silver vacuum flask, twisted the cap off and took a sip of the water inside. After a few minutes, he stood up and continued his journey.

His journey led him to a deserted city, once the crown-jewel of Japan. The city now lied in ruins, with buildings and skyscrapers once stood proudly as symbols of the country's modern industrialization vanished, leaving only debris scattering everywhere. Only a few remained, but it was only a matter of time until they joined the others. This was a checkpoint of his journey, a museum of the war between humanity and the Abyssal fleet. A scene that the young Admiral never wanted to see, as he quickly made his way through piles of scrap littering all over the place.

As he was wandering where to go next, a sight quickly caught his attention. A tall woman was standing there, her long auburn hair fluttered slightly in the wind. Her cute face was softened by the dim sunlight, her sparkling brown eyes stood out under her small orange parasol. The young Admiral stopped right when he saw her, stunned by her unmatched beauty. 'What is she doing here?' He thought to himself. It was hard to imagine such a beautiful woman wandering around in such an apocalyptic city.

"Excuse me, are you Admiral Hiroshi Lanne?" She suddenly said

"Huhh…yes, that's me." He was caught by surprise

"Thank goodness I've found you! You were so late that the base thought something happened to you" Her reply was full of relief.

"Did the base send you here?"

"Hai" She answered "I was tasked to find and escort you to base as soon as possible"

"But allow me to inquire, who are you?"

"Ah, sorry for my late introduction" She saluted "First of the Yamato-class battleships, Yamato. Pleased to meet you, Admiral"

"It's a pleasure indeed." He returned the salute

"Shall we go back to base? I'll take you there now"

 _'This girl.'_ Hiroshi thought to himself as he followed her. No matter how he sees her, she looks just like a normal girl and yet she is a kanmusu fighting for humanity. It's hard for Hiroshi to believe that fact. Not for someone who first sees it

"Well, here we are"

After 15 minutes of walking, Hiroshi arrived at the destination he supposed to arrive 2 hours ago: Chinatsu Naval Base. The huge base looked modern but it still retained classical traits from several decades back. But for a base this size, it appeared abandoned.

"It's quiet, where is everybody?" Asked Hiroshi

"Everybody's doing their job, they are either inside or out there looking for resources"

"Resources? I thought bases like these have supply lines that provide resources weekly"

"Yes sir, we have supply boats coming every Friday, but our provision is sometimes not enough, so we have to search for additional"

"I see…"

"I would love to be your base tour guide but you have to be at the Administration Building right now. You were 2 hours late after all"

"Well…t-that's" He scratched his head embarrassingly. Truly embarrassing for a former infantry general like him.

Anyone would wonder why an infantry general was given command of a naval fleet consisted of cute girls with guns and torpedoes. Well, the truth is that he was about to be given a different position in the army after his promotion. It came after Kurima Campaign. The objective was to destroy an Airfield Princess situated on a large Pacific island, breaking the marine blockade between Japan and North America. The target was situated on a smaller island to the north of the main island, separated by a river. Some K.M.S's CVs would bombard the island while land forces organize a false attack so as to distract the enemy. But the Admiral in charge of the fleet that day purposely deserted the land forces to death. Left alone, Hiroshi maneuvered several regiments pass the river and blitzed the Airfield Princess. After 2 hours of bloodshed, despite 80% of Hiroshi's infantry regiments were either killed in action or effectively knocked out, they emerged with a victory. As a result, he was promoted but at the same time, the Admiral was arrested, court martialled. Because there were no replacement, Hiroshi was assigned the new Admiral of the K.M.S project.

"Sir, we have arrived at our destination"

"Thanks for your guidance Yamato. One thing…I would like to take you up on your offer."

"Offer?" Yamato leaned her head slightly, confused by Hiroshi's question

"You said that you wanted to show me around the base, don't you remember?"

"Oh, of course sir. I'll take you around as soon as you finish your work for today" She answered him with a smile on her face.

"Then it's 1700 this evening? Does that fit your schedule?"

"Yes sir, 1700. I shall remember the time"

"Then it is settled, please don't be late

"Yeah ~ see you later Admiral" She waved her hand slightly and turned to walk away

Wasting no time, the young Admiral headed inside the Administration Building with a quick pace. After climbing up to the second floor and walking down a classic hallway, he found himself standing in front of a wooden door labelled 'Admiral's Office'. It would be his place of works for years to come

Hiroshi knocked the door and a shout came from the inside: "Enter!"

The door slowly opened. The 3 girls inside the room were aware of who was coming in as they saluted the instance the Admiral's face was seen.

"At ease." Hiroshi commanded as he walked into the room and put down his bag. "My apologies for my lateness. I was quite lost back there"

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name's Hiroshi, Hiroshi Lanne. Former lieutenant general of infantry. I'll be your new commanding officer starting from now"

"Welcome to Chinatsu Naval Base, Admiral," the black haired girl replied to his introduction. "I'm Nagato, first ship of the Nagato-class battleship, also the current secretary ship"

"A pleasure. And, may I ask, who are the two of you?" He asked, referring to the brunette and the girl with glasses

"I'm Mutsu, sister-ship of Nagato" The brunette answered his question. Hiroshi nodded and then looked over to the last one

"Ooyodo sir, I'm in charge of the communications equipment" The girl wearing glasses added

"Good to be working with you" Hiroshi looked at the three faces in the room.

There was a strange atmosphere going around.

He knew instantly that they were doubting his ability. It was a strange thing after all, an infantry general commanding a naval fleet. As he already knew what was going on, he didn't have any reasons not to be straightforward.

"You are questioning my ability, aren't you?"

The girls were taken aback a bit. They weren't expecting what he just said.

"I must admit, my knowledge in naval combat obviously aren't as good as most admirals. And I'm fully aware that any mistake I make can be costly. You are all warships that met ill-fates back then. I know the feeling. But I believe I can tell you this in complete candor: if you follow closely what I ordered, what I wanted you to do, no kanmusus will meet those fates one more time."

He paused for a few seconds, looking at the expressions of the three battleships. Expectancy is what showed on their face, no doubt. He continued.

"And here's my first order. Contact those in charge of the equipment. Make sure everything is intact, from engines, ammunitions and fuels. And do it now. Double check, triple check or quadruple check are encouraged, if you are not sure. If you don't take up that, then all consequences and responsibility will fall to you if anything happens. I don't want defective equipment lying around in my base."

" _Hai~!"_ The girls shouted as they scattered

"And as a personal favour" Hiroshi addressed Mutsu. "Can you give me the dossiers of all active kanmusus in this base? I need it for…better understanding of the girls here"

"Of course sir" She replied as she left the room

Seeing all the girls occupied with their task, Hiroshi made himself occupied as well. He had a look at all the reports needed to be done by the end of the day and made a schedule inside his mind. Of course, he didn't forget his meeting with Yamato this afternoon, so he decided to do the more important paperwork first. While he was deep in his work, he noticed someone putting a stack of paper on his desk.

"Sir, here are the dossiers you requested." Mutsu said

"Very nicely done Mutsu." He spoke politely. Mutsu blushed slightly at his response as she went back to her position

He quickly went through the dossiers, trying to memorize as many faces as he can. At one moment, a kanmusu's profile caught his attention.

"Incredible…" Muttered Hiroshi

"What incredible sir?" Asked a curious Mutsu

"This one" Hiroshi answered handing Mutsu the profile of a heavy cruiser. "Sinking the combined Allied fleet, going one against five back in the war. She is something"

"It's Haguro" Mutsu looked over the dossier. "She covered for Kamikaze so that she could escape and then fought against five British cruiser"

"A bold move indeed" Nagato added

"She must be very courageous. I look forward to meeting her." Hiroshi commented

"I hope you get to meet her soon, you'll find out something staggering~" Mutsu said in a cute and mysterious tone. He got curious but decided to continue looking at the dossiers.

After looking at several profiles, he stumbled across one. The picture showed a young girl with magenta hair and a pink hair pin resembling parts of a flower. It wouldn't have caught his attention if the photo didn't have a red cross on top of it. The picture sparkled curiosity in Hiroshi as well as a feeling of sorrow somewhere in his heart. He didn't notice it, but somehow it caused him to hesitate on asking.

"What's the cross here on this dossier?" He gave a few looks at the dossier and decided to go on with the question anyway. At that instant, he knew he had made the wrong decision.

The room went silenced, an uncomfortable one.

Nagato, Mutsu and Ooyodo was in deep silence.

The atmosphere clearly indicated the answer to his question.

And in addition, it also said to him the things they never have said.

He knew this too well.

"You have the right to not answer" He said, knowing fully well the wounds he had just opened. "I'll go into that on my own"

"She…sank near W Island" Nagato suddenly spoke, struggling to control her emotions. "She was heavily damaged by an Abyssal aircraft. But because her team was too far away, she sank before they could reach her…If only I hadn't~"

"Enough…Please. If you don't want to talk about it, then don't. I shan't dig into this any further. No one in particular is responsible for this. Let this go at once." Hiroshi halted her speech quickly.

His first day at his new position work, and he had already become a stone that stirred up the mud that resounded at the bottom of these girls' heart.

It was like a bad habit, the first time at everything.

Nagato remained silenced for a while, her eyes moistened. She felt responsible for the death of Kisaragi, but at the same time, she knew that the Admiral was right.

"Let's move on. I have an order for you" Hiroshi uttered. It wasn't anything important, he just ordered her to get him a drink. His idea is just to make her forget what happened. It somehow worked, a bit.

An hour went by, Admiral Hiroshi had finished most of his important paperwork. He stood up from his desk stretching his arm and glanced at the clock hung on the wall nearby.

"Oh shit, I'm late again!"

It's already 1730. He was 30 minutes late.

Hiroshi suddenly rushed out of the room and ran downstairs. He didn't even bother taking the lift. Another bad impression, maybe?

 _'She must be waiting for me.'_


	2. Chapter 2: The inspection

**Alright I've written a few chapters ahead and I find it quite interesting to write it. And with the 2 reviews I received, I think I'll make this into a full story.**

 **Thank you Lt. Cmdr. Jonathan Miller for the encouragement in your review, I really appreciate it**

 **Thank you CasualFictionWriter23 for commenting as well. I'll try to alter a bit of my character to make him more characteristic. In fact I at first found his stutters in front of several specific girls interesting, but now it is a bit silly, so I'll remove it in chapter 3.**

 **Reviews, constructive criticism are highly appreciated**

 **Disclaimer:** **All Kancolle characters belongs to their respective owners. Only my OCs are mine.**

 **Update: The stutters are completely removed, so that the MC looked less stupid**

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Chapter 2: The inspection

"I'm sorry! Please forgive my tardiness." He apologized as soon as she noticed him

"It's ok, sir. You must be busy with your work." Yamato replied.

"Well, this is embarrassing. I told you earlier not to be late and now I'm the one who is late."

"I told you, it's alright. I understand. You did not tell yourself to be on time." She totally sympathized with him. Not totally a bad impression, for her of course. She was a nice girl, just like he thought.

"Leave that for now. Shall we go now?"

" _Hai~_ " She answered. After a brief conversation, the tour started

About an hour was spent touring the dorms. Only the exterior was inspected since he didn't want to intrude the girls' privacy. The only exception was the special dorm, which was constructed especially for the Yamato-class battleship and for ships with great contribution. Yamato apparently was the one taking care most of the chores there. She didn't mind showing him inside it, in fact, she was a bit proud of it.

"And finally we're back at the main hall. What do you think of our dorm?" Yamato concluded the tour of the dorms

"…" Hiroshi couldn't utter a single word. His jaw was hanging open, not literally but still.

 _'How can this even exist here? This is too…'_ Dumbstruck was the word.

Air conditioners for every single room, bathhouses, soundproof quarters, kitchen with full refrigeration facilities, stylish and well-designed hall. Even a high-ranking officer like him didn't even have a chance to experience in such sybaritic lifestyle.

"This can't be called a dormitory." Muttered Hiroshi, apparently recovered from the shock. "This is more like…a 4-star hotel"

"I'm not a hotel!" Yamato suddenly shouted out. Hiroshi, surprised by her unexpected outburst, gave her a curious look.

"Uh…I'm sorry." She raised her hand in an apologizing gesture. "Since you are already here, how about a full course dinner with the dorm's residence?"

"Uhh…Alright" He noticed her avoidance, but didn't mind it.

"Great! I have to prepare dinner soon. Please enjoy yourself while you wait, Admiral"

After Yamato went to the kitchen, Hiroshi made himself comfortable on a sofa nearby. Even the sofa was high-class. It felt nostalgic to the young Admiral. Although born in a noble family, he didn't have many chance to experience such luxury. He enlisted when he was 16. Since then, his life was no longer the same. His room was a small tent, his home was the battlefield, his personal treasure was a rifle. Seeing such scenes brought back memories of his childhood, when he played hide and seek with his little sister every evening and got scolded once for breaking a pricy tea set.

'If the war never happened' the thought crossed his mind once more. Hiroshi hated war, he always have. For what reasons do they exist. His intense hatred for war was planted inside his heart back 6 years ago, in an incident that forever scarred his soul. He never forgot it, not even once, and he could recite it so accurately as if it happened yesterday. But that was if anyone could get him to talk about it.

A couple of minutes passed by, Hiroshi felt someone's presence. He turned his head to the right, he saw a tall silhouette heading his way. At first, he thought that it was Yamato, but then her appearance soon proved him wrong. She was at Yamato's height, but with completely different image. She has tanned skin, long white hair tied up twin-tailed, wearing a red skirt similar to Yamato and…some bandages on her upper body, covering her breasts and waist.

So much for fashion

"Who are you?" The girl asked with suspicion

"Does this uniform give you any idea?" Hiroshi replied

"Hmmm…From the single black leather glove you are wearing, I guess you are the new Admiral everybody is talking about"

"Your reasons are irrelevant, but you've made the right guess. Admiral Hiroshi Lanne, your commanding officer starting this afternoon." He responded

"Can I count on you to do a better job than the previous Admiral?" Instead of an introduction, she asked him with doubt

"It depends on you…I don't know what the future holds, I may be able to lead us to glory, or I may end up screwing up everything like that guy. But the point is, if you continue to hold doubts for me, you will forever be placed on the edge of a razor. It won't stop bad things from happening. Have some belief, if you do, you'll feel safer" He reassured her with a calm voice

"Hmm…You've convinced me somehow. Second of the Yamato-class battleships, Musashi. My best regards to you." The girl finally introduced herself

"A pleasure to meet you. And if you don't mind my saying, those bandages look unfashionable to me." He replied sardonically

"That single glove on your right hand isn't a trend either" Musashi returned the favour. He did wear only one glove on his right hand. He thought it was cool.

Hiroshi gave her an annoyed look. But before he could respond, another kanmusu caught his attention. She had short black hair and wore a purple top and a black skirt. He turned his head at her direction. Noticing his gaze, she suddenly hid behind the wall, peeking only her right eye out. Seeing this, he pretended to look at the magazine as if to provoke her to come out. But when she was about to come out, he stared at her causing her to retreat back to the wall. This repeated several times making it look just like a scene in a comedy movie.

"Ok, enough hiding." Hiroshi, with a slight chuckle, stood up and started heading toward the girl. "I know you're there"

"Hehh?!... _Ano~ano~_...w-w-wha-what?!" Her eyes teared up. She completely lost it

"You were a bit too direct to her. She's timid." Musashi suddenly spoke as she walked toward the two

"Oh, sorry." He turned to the shy girl struggling to regain her composure. "Hey, can I ask you your name?"

"I-I'm Haguro. N-N-Nice to meet…you" She responded to his question nervously, even more nervous than Hiroshi when he talked to Yamato

"U-Uhm…Nice to meet you too" He replied in a friendlier and less noble tone, but somehow it sounded groggy and unnatural.

'So this is the surprise Mutsu was saying earlier' Hiroshi said to himself. Surprise indeed, it totally went against his expectation. Haven't figured out what to say next, he decided to leave her alone for now.

Dinner went by without incident, but it was revealed that the Nagato sister lived at the dorm as well. After dinner was finished, they continued the tour, this time to the factory and docks. The two shipgirls in charge, Akashi and Yubari, had a chance to have a bit of a show off at their territory. But there was one section of the base they ignored, well left it for last to be exact.

"Lastly, well…" They were hesitant. Yamato remained silent behind the two, clearly didn't want to show him there as well.

"What's wrong?" Hiroshi asked with concern

"It's just…umm…" Akashi trailed off

"It's a section specialized in…breaking ships" Yuubari helped Akashi to finish her sentence. Hiroshi's eyebrows twitched slightly, a bit curious. He walked to the door leading to the section mentioned above and opened it.

It hit him right away.

Fuel, metal mixed with a smell that those who inhaled would cover their noses immediately: blood. The huge room's only source of light was two bulbs on the ceiling, about 3 meters apart from each other. Equipment, crates, cans, barrels filled the room. There were no windows and the only door was on the other end of the room if you don't count the door Hiroshi just passed through. Several blood stains were on the wall near the door, also on the equipment and on the clothes left on a barrel, apparently waiting to be washed.

Several workers inside looked at Hiroshi as he took a few steps into the room.

He inspected the room carefully, his eyes wasn't looking pleasant.

"What happened to the girls that were scrapped?" He already knew the answer but wanted to confirm it

"They…" This time Yubari couldn't finish her answer properly. Tears started welling up in her eyes.

That is it.

"Enough." He stopped her but asked another question. "How often do you have to scrap?"

"E-Every time the Admiral provide me the list..."

"I see…" He decided to end this tormenting questionnaire. His mood immediately darkened.

This have to end. This will end.

"Yamato, today's tour is over. If there is any other places you wanted to take me to, leave it for later." Hiroshi said without looking at her, maintained a calm voice. With this said, he stormed off to the Administration Building.

Next morning, the ship breaking section were full of crowds, mostly kanmusus. They were mostly battleships and carriers who had quite some time staying at Chinatsu. Among the crowds were several men from the construction team called last night, the workers in the ship breaking building and a man with wearing glasses and a white suit. A rather tall young man in his late-twenties, his brown hair smoothened with gel, his glasses gave the impression of a smart talented man. But here, he looked impatient, as if waiting for someone. In this situation, that 'someone' was none other than Admiral Hiroshi Lanne.

And after a while waiting, the main character finally appeared. Hiroshi wore a black IJN uniform with full military insignia and medals, a golden chain dangled vaguely and instead of a sword, a long pistol was holstered on his right waist. He walked toward the man calmly. Upon seeing the Admiral, the man looked with a gaze that could make anyone uncomfortable. Nevertheless, he greeted the Admiral with a smile and an extended hand. Hiroshi was clearly annoyed but he returned the gesture.

"Commander, would you mind explaining what brings this…demolition team here?" The man asked while walking around with the young Admiral.

 _'Such a flamboyant dresser.'_

"You already know" Replied Hiroshi emotionlessly

"You're saying that you're kicking us out?" The man chuckled, mocking the Admiral. Such a mistake.

Hiroshi secretly reached for his gun, trying to refrain from shooting him on spot

"I'm not really kicking you out, I'm just assigning you to a post…somewhere else." Then he walked.

"But this contract is already signed! There is still 1 year left!"

"Then good for you, you'll have a year of vacationing."

"But why?! Sending us away for what?! A bunch of man-made girls?!"

Hiroshi stopped dead in his track. Fuck this guy. No more of this playing nice.

"Then what do you think? Are they human?"

"No sir. They are just ships, they are not built to live the life of a human. They are tools of war, weapons to be disposed when they are useless. You should've known that already sir."

Hiroshi suddenly turned around, disgusted, looking straight into his brown eyes. He's a complete thorn, a cancerous tumour to humanity.

"You said they couldn't live the life of a human, couldn't make their own decision?"

"Yes sir."

He had to be removed, by any means.

"…Then you are not born to make your own decision."

"W-What do you mean Commander?"

"THEY…are human to me. If you don't consider them human, I don't consider you human. And like you said, those who are not human are not to make their own decision. So I will decide it for you. Get out of this island."

"You can't just kick us out like this?!" The man retaliated in anger

"I'm NOT kicking you out. I told you before, I'm sending you elsewhere so that you could do your own business. I'll handle any problems that came because of your departure."

"I refuse!" He protested in desperation.

Hiroshi sighed, his anger boiled at its peak, knowing that pure words won't shake him off of this.

Enough of this! His arm grabbed hold of his gun. The next second it was plunged onto his stomach

"Refuse? I gave you another business to do! I handle everything you need after departure! And you refuse? This is my base, you have to follow my rules once you step foot in here. And if you don't, you know what will happen." His crimson eyes glared as similar as those of a serpent or a demon.

This time the man couldn't go against him anymore. Such a half-hearted man like him never stood a chance. It was checkmate. His body shivered uncontrollably at the fear of Hiroshi's unforgiving eyes, his face paled like a corpse. He was unable to walk straight and had to be supported by his employees. The workers reaction were similar, and proceeded to leave the island. They didn't even dare to meet that demonic look again.

"Seems that I went a bit too far." Hiroshi inquired silently as his eyes returned to its normal state.

"No matter. You are now authorised to demolish this section."

He holstered his guns and turned to the demolition team.

Finishing his order, Hiroshi walked away from the site with his arms crossed behind his back as the team started their work. It appeared that his show he put up earlier had touched many hearts of the ship girls witnessing. As a result, everybody nearby looked at him with cherish and respect, exchanging words of admiration.

He sighed in contentment upon returning to his office. He had gained a bit of trust, but it was only a bit, there is still a long way to go. Throwing all of that aside, he resumed his work.

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 **Some strategies and sorties coming up next. Some of his major traits are made clearer here.**


	3. Chapter 3: Typhoon 002

**Disclaimer: Kancolle and all of its character belong to its respective owners**

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Three days had passed since the ship breaking incident. That section is no more, and the girls decided to use part of it as docks and bathhouses, the rest was up to Akashi and Yuubari to decide. Seems like they would put up an equipment improvement arsenal in order to repair and enhance armaments' characteristic. They are now under construction

Hiroshi's internal clock told him it was about 0700, so he opened his eyes. He quickly got out of bed, stretched his arms a bit and got dressed. But as he was about to leave for breakfast at Mamiya's food court, he took a glance at his watch on his bedside table…

"…I'm a dead man…I'M A DEAD MAN!"

It was actually 0900, his internal clock was horribly wrong; he was an hour late. His reaction was completely opposite from his usual composed attitude. He is now in the state of panic of being late for his duty, moreover, today is his first sortie so being late is even worse.

Hiroshi rushed out of his room toward his office, climbed the stairs to the second floor. Didn't even bother to knock, he opened the door loudly, impolitely. The three ship girls, who had long been in there, looked his way. Noticing his awkward position, he corrected his composure and returned to his calm self.

"I apologize for being late. Is there anything that I missed during my absence?" Hiroshi asked, effectively hiding his embarrassment

"Nothing much sir, we just did some reconnaissance on the region we are going to sortie." Nagato replied while giving him a document. The paper consisted of a table with 3 columns, a map of the region and mission objective. In the table was a list of enemy vessels and their strength spotted at certain areas.

"For better illustration purposes, you can come to this map over here Admiral" Mutsu indicated a bigger map on the table. The map showed two islands, one was to the right of the map while the other at the upper-right corner, cut lines and nodes indicating the planned routes and area where it is most expected to meet the enemy fleet. The fleet was expected to encounter an enemy fleet and then went east for the island

Hiroshi compared the list with the nodes and noticed something strange. There were no reports on the fleet composition at both islands, while the number ships at the pre-island nodes were mysteriously low.

"Nagato, what happened during recon?" He asked. "Nothing were said about the island's fleet composition"

"Somehow all recon planes our carrier launched were shot down after we got around the typhoon." She said pointing at the map. "Our second waves of planes met the same fate as well. But we managed to get a clear look at the island. It appeared to be their main base of the region."

"What concerned me is how those planes were shot down. It's like they know that we were coming" Mutsu chimed in

"However if they had known it from the beginning, they could have shot down the planes from the first nodes. So that means our recon planes were spotted while they are flying over node G, the node where we have to choose our direction"

"But there were no ships at node G and it is too far away from both the ships and islands' radar range" Mutsu refuted her sister's deduction

"Then it doesn't make sense…" Nagato commented. The room went completely silent, so silent that the blood pumping inside the veins could be heard. Everyone was deep in thought, trying to come up with something that fits into everything nicely

"The typhoon." Hiroshi finally spoke up, interrupting the silence. After all hearing all the clues from the two battleships, he let loose and let his intellectual mind take his place

"The enemy is inside the typhoon." Hiroshi finished his sentence. This stirred up surprises and confusion among the room's occupants. Seeing that, he decided to back up his statement

"To be exact, the enemy is in the eye. A battleship." He said with utmost confident. "The only place planes can't go into is typhoons. A ship with detection range long enough could detect anyone passing through while remaining concealed. The only ship that could manoeuvre well in a storm and has high detection range is a battleship"

"Hmm…could be. That explains most of our questions. But how are we going to reach the base with that 'thing' sitting there?"

"Simple, we just send 1 fleet into that storm, and decimate it." He answered so bluntly that it was too insane to believe

"...Admiral, that is too risky. There is absolutely no evidence what type of ships in there and how many. Moreover, we can't tell if the 'thing' inside the storm is a battleship. Attacking might result in waste of resources or being critically damaged during battle." Nagato said

"Here's the second fleet's composition" He said as he handed his secretary ship a piece of paper. "Follow it and the fleet will return home moderately damaged at most"

Nagato looked at the paper and back at Hiroshi. The order of battle was as insane as his plan. Hiroshi said nothing, he just looked at her with the eyes of an eagle. His face showed complete faith and confidence in a total victory, as if saying everything is possible, no doubts were noticed.

"Alright Admiral. But what about the island?" Nagato replied, seemingly convinced.

"The Abyssal can rot there. They won't pose a threat to us. " Hiroshi said. "And, may I ask, if there is any JMSDF's vessel at our disposal?"

"Uhh…no. What is it about sir?"

"Just to make this battle more personal. Don't mind that, let's get to work."

* * *

It was about 1000 when the assault began. Flagship of the supporting fleet Maya was fired up for her first sortie in a while. Fighting in a storm or not, she didn't care, getting the chance to fire her main guns brightened her day. In contrast to her energetic spirit, the others were pretty negative. Destroyer Asashio and Arashio tried their best to stop trembling inside. Light cruiser Jintsuu checked her armaments over and over again, probably truing to forget what was coming. Torpedo Cruiser Kitakami was also nervous about the sortie while her partner Ooi comforted her, comically

"Fleet status." Hiroshi said to his two fleets' flagship

"All ship girls ready. Setting sail!" Maya followed suit

"Alright, morning ladies, welcome to today's sortie" Hiroshi confirmed their report. "I believe I had already explained our battle tactics, so it's better not to repeat it, our radio frequency might be intercepted."

" _Hai_ ~" The flagship shouted

"Is this gonna work? It sounded crazy." Muttered Jintsuu

"I don't know senpai, but we had no choice but to believe it anyway." Replied Asashio, reassuring her

About 30 minutes after departure, the fleet reached the first node. They were immediately met with hostile resistance. However, because they all consisted of light ships, they were easily taken care of in a short firefight.

But the battle has only just begun. After reaching node G, the fleet sailed into the storm according to plan. The wind speed reached up to 94 kilometres per hour, combined with enemy firepower caused severe difficulty navigating. Hiroshi figured out that much, he tried to give directions to the girls through radio but it was proven near impossible due to the heavy rain and strong wind.

"…hzz…gine…hzz...put…hzz…hzz…mum"

"Admiral, I can't hear you at all. Repeat please!" Maya said, her words couldn't reach the Admiral at all.

"Stupid storm! It's soaking my Kitakami-san!" Ooi complained in anger

"The rain is too heavy, I can't send out my recon seaplane." Jintsuu joined in. Asashio was the only one not saying anything but she was obviously struggling to get through.

"How long it would take if we kept going at this pace?" Arashio asked tiringly

"About 10 minutes to the eye. We'll engage as soon as they are on our sight" Maya checked her radar and answered

Finally, after barrages of rainfall and enemy shells, the fleet managed to reach the eye, luckily without significant damage. With no more rain or strong wind, the radio interference was cleared up.

"Maya, status report!" Hiroshi's voice could be heard, loud and clear

"We've passed through the storm and are engaging the enemy" Reported Maya

"Fleet composition?" Asked Hiroshi

"Umm…2 Ri-class heavy cruisers, 2 elite Wa-class transport ships, 1 elite Ro-class destroyer and 1 elite Ta-class battleship"

 _'_ _So that's the thing spotting us the whole time'_

"Very well, the battleship is our main threat, focus your firepower on it. Those with light armour stay back and provide cover fire. Girls, wishes you the best of luck" Hiroshi sent the order of battle

" _Hai!_ " All fleet girls replied in unison

At 1105, the two fleets started their engagement. The first phase turned well for Maya's fleet as the 2 Ri-class got sunk instantly by Ooi and Kitakami's torpedo salvo. At 1110, the battle was in full swing. The battleship had proved its superiority with its heavy firepower, but the rest of the Abyssal ships' firing were considerably frail. Many of the Abyssal gun armaments had fallen silent owing to the damage they sustained after 10 minutes of engagement and almost all of Abyssal ships excluding the Ta-class were crippled and unable to offer resistance by 1130. This opened an opportunity for the second fleet to focus on the battleship.

"Here comes my pain train, eat it!" Maya gave a cry, firing her two 20.3cm twin gun mount. One shell scraped its amour while the other struck one of the triple gun battery, effectively disabling it. The battleship roared and in response she fired her other battery.

"Ahh!" Jintsuu gave a squeak. It appeared one of the shells grazed her. She retreated back a bit and resumed firing. The high evasion of the fleet proved effective, the battleship couldn't manage to land another hit. But sinking her was still a problem. Her armour effectiveness was too high. Asashio and Arashio's 12.7cm were rendered useless against her thick armour. Fortunately for them, ammunition was not unlimited, the battleship slowly ran out of ammo. The fleet slowly but steadily disabled her armaments and then her turbine. The Ta-class soon gave a scream and fell to her knees, she dropped her defence, lost her ability to resist and was at the mercy of the fleetgirls. The other Abyssal ships tried to attack but was sunk without any damage done.

"Five enemy ships destroyed, the battleship is still floating but cannot continue fighting. Our fleet only suffered minor damage to light cruiser Jintsuu." Maya gave a brief battle report

The three girls back at HQ was surprised at the result. The Admiral was true to his words, no ships reached critical damage in a battle seemed too crazy to fight in. Hiroshi just stood there, his radio still on his head, and sighed with satisfaction. His battle plan was perfect, nothing went out of expectations. But as he was about to give the fleet orders…

"Admiral, the Ta-class is looking at us right now. I think she is trying to tell us something" The report from Maya stopped him from giving further orders

The Ta-class was looking at all the girls expectantly, her eyes ceased all hostilities. She was still on her knees, gazing up and reaching out her hand. She looked nothing like the girl a few minutes ago, she looked like a small guilty pet. Her gaze looked as if, as if…

"…as if she is trying to give in to us" Asashio commented, her voice reached the Admiral

The girls were obviously confused. Taking a prisoner was something they had never done before. The Abyssal usually fought till the end and sank. They didn't have experience with prisoners, so taking her with them would be a hassle. But the thoughts of sinking her never crossed their mind. Despite being enemies, she was just a girl, sinking her would be cruel since she already surrendered. A moment of silence passed, the girls still didn't have a clue on what to do.

Then a cold voice rang through the radio

"Kill it…"

"What?!" Maya couldn't comprehend the voice at all

"I said kill it! Sink it to the bottom-most reaches of the ocean!" The voice this time was loud and clear. It was Hiroshi. Although the identity of the voice was already known, the girls couldn't believe that it was their commander who gave the order. Hiroshi's voice was cold and unforgiving, deeply contrasted his usual self that they see, as if he was a demon from hell himself.

The Abyssal suddenly revolted, her eyes became combative, taking the good opportunity. She pointed one barrel of her main gun, apparently still working, towards the girls and open fired. All they heard afterwards was a bang and a loud yelp. Arashio suffered a direct hit, tattering her clothes and destroying her boiler. Upon seeing her sister ship got shot, Asashio was immediately filled with anger. Several explosions came after, the battleship was no more. It sank to the abyss, to where it came from.

"Maya! Report!" Hiroshi's yelled on the radio

"Sir, the battleship retaliated and Arashio suffered heavy damage" Maya said with a low voice, still recovering from the sudden retaliation

"What happened?" He suddenly asked with a dark expression

"…"

"Why didn't you shoot?!" He made his question clear in fury

"I-I'm sorry, it's just that she didn't look like she could cause harm"

"Then look! Look at what she has done! Next Abyssal you meet, waste her without hesitation! A creepy looking shark or a cute girl in a fancy dress, I don't care! Make sure you shoot her, again and again until she no longer floats!" Hiroshi roared, apparently in utmost disappointment and rage

"…" Maya was rendered speechless after his sudden outburst. Her usual self would retort against him, but she couldn't, she was too scared after hearing his reprimands. Not just her, but others on the radio as well

"Admiral…" Nagato began, her voice concerned of the fleet girls

"Mission Accomplished. Return to base."

Hiroshi turned to his secretary ship

"Prepare the baths for their arrival"

"Yes sir."

He nodded in approval, then left the room, not without emitting a breath of sadness

* * *

 **I'm not quite satisfied with this chapter but it at least gives a glimpse of the MC's attitude towards the war and the Abyssal. Stay tune for more chapters to come**


	4. Chapter 4: Memory shards

**My first attempt at comedy, and a bit of his past**

 **Thank you Lt. Cmdr. Jonathan Miller for another review**

 **Reviews are greatly appreciated, especially if it helps to improve the story**

 **Disclaimer:** **Kancolle and all of its character all belonged to their respective owners. I own NOTHING aside from the OCs**

 **Update: Some contents of chapter 4 are also rewritten to go with the changes**

* * *

Chapter 4: Memory shards

It was about 1800 when Hiroshi stopped camping inside his office. He decided to go out for a walk. Today isn't a good day for him. Although the sortie ended in a tactical victory, he ended up receiving a bunch of bills of repairs from Akashi. But more importantly, he was disappointed at the girls' performance. Hesitation to the Abyssals is, to him, a huge mistake, and therefore, he had to train these girls not to make it. But looking at the innocence of these girls daunted him, made him unwilling to do it.

 _'_ _Worrying too much won't do.'_ He sighed again, one couldn't count how many times he did it

He wandered around the naval base to stretch his muscle after 6 hours of working non-stop and to unwind the tension and worries of the previous day. It was his method of anti-depression, to walk his worries off, for 6 years.

He walked to the cliff, situated at the east of the island and at the far end of the naval base. It was about 100m to the bottom. One could die from jumping from this cliff. But Hiroshi obviously wasn't going to do that. He stood at a safe distance, looking at the horizon in silent. The sea is calm today, but who knows what lies ahead of them.

"Admiral?" A familiar voice came from behind him

Turning his head around, he saw Yamato. She was standing just a few steps away from him, her hands clasped in front of her, in her usual attire although without her parasol.

"Good evening." He said

"Good evening Admiral." The auburn haired girl returned his greeting. "How's your day sir?"

Hiroshi stopped for a while, trying to pick the right word

"Fine." He picked the plainest one.

"Is that so?"

A moment of silence followed suit. Hiroshi continued to look at the distant sea while Yamato scuffled her hands awkwardly. No one uttered a single word or gave the other party attention.

"Umm…Admiral." Yamato finally broke the silence

"Yeah?"

"Am I bothering you or something?" She stuttered a bit

"Not at all…" Silence again.

"It does look like I'm bothering you."

"How many times do I have to repeat myself? How come you feel it that way?" He turned around, somewhat irritated.

"It's just that…I felt so. Because you talk so bluntly and so seriously, even in privacy like this. It feels like you don't like talking to me."

It was Hiroshi's turn to be silent. She was right, he was the one doing that. He had to admit that as well. But then he had to inquire himself. When did he become like this? He wasn't like this by nature. 6 years ago he was all but this. So when did he become like this?

He tried to clear his head of that question.

"That's a habit of work. I hope you can understand that."

Yamato glanced down for a moment, her hand grasped tighter. She looked back at him and said

"B-But can you at least try?"

"Try what?" He asked

"Try to speak normally with me, in a friendly way. I don't mind you being blunt at work, but can you please be more subtle to me in times like this?"

He looked at her again for a while, at her eyes in particular.

"Sure, I'll try. It's not that difficult anyway. But…why do you want me to be that way?"

It was her turn to be silent. She started to tremble, but not visible to the Admiral standing in front of her

"I just want someone to confide in."

"Confide in? The girls here aren't good enough?" He asked

"Not really, they are really sympathetic and they always listen to me. But there are some of the things that I can't confide in."

"Such as?"

"…I can't talk about that now…" She paused

 _'_ _And you want to talk about things you can't talk about now?"_

He looked at her several times

"…Alright, I'll lend you my ears whenever you want."

"Thank you very much sir!" Her mood brightened suddenly, she said with a happy smile

"Under one condition, you remove the 'sir' when doing so. Is that doable?"

"Yes I can."

"That's a deal." He said as he turned toward the ocean once again.

"The sea is peaceful tonight, isn't it?" She switched the subject

"Yes…but soon these empty sea will be covered with ships and explosions." He replied. "It's best to enjoy it until then."

"Hai. It's hard to imagine what's going on out there."

"What? You haven't seen anything out there?"

"Well…" She paused. "This is embarrassing but…I've never been to a battle."

Hiroshi's face numbed, dumbfounded by the revelation

"A strongest battleship in history…never fought a single battle?"

"Hai…The only sortie I've been in since I was remanufactured into a ship girl was the retreat from Truk."

"Why?" He asked bluntly but out of curiosity

"The higher-ups wanted to conceal my existence. My resource consumption is really high, and they wanted to keep the trump card to themselves."

"Not even in large battle? I heard there were a few since the start of the war. You did not take part in any?"

"Yes…" Her voice started to trail off

Hiroshi gave an audible chuckle

 _'_ _I can see why they lost most of those combats.'_

"But you want to sail out to the sea, don't you?"

She nodded in silence

"You'll sortie soon enough. I can promise you that." Hiroshi said

"Really?! Do you really mean it Admiral?!" She reacted with a face half happy and half surprised

"Yes."

"T-Thank you so much, Admiral!"

"Don't think I'm doing it for you. I'm really gonna need you for this." He clarified

"For what sir?"

"The invasion of Okinawa. I'm planning to take it back from the hands of those Abyssal"

She looked down at the sound of the island

"…With us alone?"

"No, we'll be fighting with the JSDF's 7th Fleet. They'll be there soon. They're departing from Taipei with 23 warships, 51 when combined with us. With a fleet that size, it won't take long before we take the island."

"…Please don't underestimate their strength. Do you remember how they take control and blockaded our seas?"

Hiroshi turned to look at the battleship

"Yes I do. I remember it fully well. But I think it will go just fine, at least on our side."

"Can we believe in them?" Yamato asked

"…Hopefully." Hiroshi replied after a slight pause. He then proceeded to leave the cliff

* * *

Having returned from the cliff, Hiroshi went to Mamiya's for dinner. Meals for him was just pure rice and ice tea, sometimes cold meat and bread, plain and simple, and he kept stubbornly to that ideal to the despair of those witnessing.

As soon as he started to eat, the 1st Carrier Division entered the restaurant. They were going to have dinner after the whole afternoon training with the 2nd CarDiv. Seeing their Admiral, the division flagship Akagi saluted.

"Good evening Admiral."

"Evening ladies. Are you having your dinners?" Hiroshi returned the salute

"Yes sir, we just finish our training." Akagi replied politely

"I see, good job." He said in a praising manner, and was met with smiles from the two carriers. Then they sat down on the table right near him and ordered their food. It was ordering but in fact it was already prepared. Two mountains of rice and curry were brought out, the portion of each was 10 times a lot more than Hiroshi's. The Admiral's eyes nearly popped out at the sight of the food plate as he had never ever seen such 'titanic' eating portion.

 _'_ _I'm not treating any of them to a meal, ever.'_ He reminded himself

Hiroshi went on to eat his own dinner while trying to ignore the two eating right next to him. Having his last bite, he called Mamiya.

"Bordeaux wine sir?" Mamiya asked to confirm his order

"Yes. List it in my usual dessert please."

"Yes sir." She said as she handed him the bottle and the glass

"Do you drink Admiral?" Kaga asked from the close by table.

"Yes, but only high quality wine." He stated the polar opposite of his usual appetite

"Can we have a sip sir?" Akagi requested while Hiroshi was pouring the wine for himself

"…Suurree…but have you drink wine before?"

"No sir, but I would like a try." She answered

"I don't think you should, consider your archetype."

"Please…" Akagi said as she looked at him with expectant eyes. Hiroshi gazed to Kaga, who was just plainly looking at him.

 _'_ _Well, it won't hurt, will it?'_

Hiroshi handed her the bottle, which she poured onto her empty glass and her friend's glass. Upon receiving the bottle back, he looked at the two carriers touching their glasses and emptied their glass in one go. And then, nightmare soon unleashed…

* * *

"Tadaima…" Hiroshi said opening the door to his office, his consciousness in turns ebbing away and returning to him. He considered himself extremely lucky to return back without collapsing mid-way, as his only thing keeping him moving on his feet right now is his will.

"Admiral! Are you alright?!" Ooyodo was the first to see him, immediately rushed to support him.

"I'm fine."

"What happened?" His secretary ship asked with concern and curiosity

Hiroshi sluggishly moved his hand to his pocket and threw Nagato the wallet of his.

"Check inside."

"There's nothing here." She opened the wallet, finding nothing aside from his ID and credit card

"Exactly. Let me tell you a story."

* * *

1 hour ago

"Aaaadddmiirallll…dis is funnnn" Kaga giggled and hiccupped while playing with her spoon. Hiroshi was not in the mood to pay any attention to her, as he was trying to get Akagi on his shoulder, who had passed out after one glass.

"I'm taking you two back to your dorm, you've had enough of tonight."

"Aaawwww…Addmiiraall, yurr such a killljooyy." She groaned

"I may be, but as much as I know, you are drunk. And drunk people…uuurrgh!" He said as he lifted Akagi with all of his strength. It's miraculous that he managed to do so, but reality soon followed. His legs and back trembled at her ridiculous weight.

 _'_ _How come she is so thin?!'_

He tried to walk, one, two, three steps, he carried her out of the restaurant. Then, something suddenly whizzed only a few centimetres from his face. He turned around, and saw Kaga holding a longbow on her right hand, while grabbing something on her back using her left hand, presumably an arrow.

"Nooo one take Akagi-sann aweyy froomm meh." She made a wet voice while firing another arrow, which Hiroshi moved to his left to dodge.

 _'_ _This is too far!'_

While Kaga was reaching for another arrow, Hiroshi dashed toward her at great speed. When she finally placed her arrow onto the bow, the Admiral already made it in front of her, his no-glove hand reached out for her neck. Despite being a well-trained fleet girls, her reaction when Hiroshi attacked was poor, mainly because she was drunk. Hiroshi's hand made it for her neck without much reaction. In a split second, he stroke the left side with his two fingers, applying great pressure onto the two spots. The carrier flinched for a while at first, but soon loosen and fell to the ground, snoring peacefully.

 _'_ _Jesus.'_

"What is going on Admiral?" The supply ship ran out from the kitchen, trying to figure out what was the commotion.

"Nothing, I'll pay for the food they ordered. How much is it?"

"21300 yens sir." She said

Hiroshi's mind went totally blank. Accept that it was a meal for two, but 10000 yen for each person. It is a total nightmare, and he had betrayed his reminder earlier. The problem was that did he had enough money for it.

Zipping open his wallet, Hiroshi gave Mamiya every notes he had, and the credit card that he just deposited his money in a few weeks ago. Another miracle came to him, he had enough, and he was let go, with a wallet completely drained of money.

* * *

"And that's that. Afterwards I had to carry the two carriers back to their dorms all by myself. Somehow the girls aren't the night type today so no one was there to help."

The moment he concluded his story, Mutsu immediately collapsed onto the nearby sofa, cursed to laugh non-stop. Ooyodo looked as if she just heard a story of the sun exploding into pieces while Nagato sighed heavily in resignation.

Hiroshi crawled onto his office chair and laid his back on it, his body devoid of all strength.

"Please, get me something to drink." He said

"Alright sir." Mutsu replied as she went outside

"And Ooyodo, any news from the 7th fleet?"

"Nothing yet sir, I haven't received any report or transmission." She replied

 _'_ _They are probably preparing to depart.'_

"Check again." Hiroshi said

"Affirmative sir. Oh and there is a paper that has been submitted to you earlier. Can you have a look at it?" She replied

"Ok, where?"

"In your drawer sir."

"Just a moment."

Hiroshi opened the drawer in front of him, trying to find the folder containing that form Ooyodo mentioned. After a few seconds surveying inside the drawer, he didn't find the folder he needed, instead an object came in contact with his glove, probably a thin stick. He took it out, revealing it to be a red woman hair kanzashi made of porcelain. The model looked old-fashioned, dating back to almost a decade, but yet it was polished so smoothly that it glowed dimly reflecting the lights. It looked like a small comb with a red chrysanthemum flower attached to the top. Used to be a stylish hair ornament, it is now probably only available in some antique store, considered to be a rare thing to have.

But it wasn't the reason why Hiroshi kept it with him. He looked at the ornament repeatedly, top to bottom, again and again, his vision got blurrier each time he did so. Eventually, he saw nothing around him anymore, only shards of memory floating in front of him. They started to assemble, revealing a scene that dated 6 years ago. A large mansion could be seen on the top of a hill, or at least, the left side of it. The right was nothing but blocks of concrete and glass debris scattering everywhere. On the background was a sea of flame that resembled a titanic monster that was trying to devour the house on the hill. This part wasn't real of course, but it was an effect of a similar incident that happened on the date of the scene. An effect that had been smashing his mind ever since

 _'_ _Ugh!'_

It hit him once again

This time not by that haunting scene, but by the image of the one he always held dear to appearing right ahead of him.

Her kind smile and the look of pure innocence.

That look aimed at him.

The most painful was that nothing in that look was hatred or contempt.

Only kindness and sympathy.

It was killing him.

It hurt his heart.

She stayed there for a minute, continuously torment him. Her face then faded, the only remained was the burning mansion. Then a blinding flash soon lighted the sight, followed by an incredible huge noise and a turmoil of smoke that painted the shards with greys. Soon, he couldn't figure out what was going on, the only thing he heard was the sound of airplane flying above him.

"Admiral?"

He snapped back to reality. Everything he saw earlier vanished, replaced by the concerning face of a certain brunette.

"Admiral? Can you hear me?" Mutsu asked again

"Yes, clearly." Hiroshi shook his head while saying

"Are you alright sir? You seem to be tired?"

"Pretty much fine. Don't worry too much about it."

"Here's your tea." Mutsu placed a cup of tea on his desk, which he took it with a grateful manner.

"Admiral, have you read the paper yet?" Nagato asked

"Oh, I forgot! Just a moment."

Hiroshi found the folder and skimmed through it for a few minutes. His expression got darker as he read through each lines

"Is this a joke?" He asked when finished with a hint of irritation in his voice

"I don't think it's a joke sir." Nagato replied

"You say that 12000 men at Saoux is now starving due to the supply boat being sank on their way there?"

"Yes sir, the Abyssal submarines ambushed them on their way there."

"And now they are asking us for supplies?" Hiroshi crumpled the paper into a ball and threw it aside. "Not a chance."

"Admiral…are you implying that you are dismissing this?" Nagato asked

"Yes, they can handle this by themselves."

"I'm not so sure sir." Mutsu interrupted. "It's an elite regiment. If this situation persists, the Saoux Campaign will be lost."

"Saoux is a complete disaster already. Attacking a fleet docked in a harbour with a Battleship Summer Princess is not reserved for only conventional weaponry." Hiroshi replied

"But still, can you leave these troops there to the starvation?"

"They can live off the island. The land is fertile enough to grow crops."

"But most of the men don't know agriculture or farming."

"Then learn it. That's their problem." He ended coldly, and persuasively. Ooyodo didn't say a thing back to him, she turned for the radio. Mutsu and Nagato remained silent as well, knowing that their words wouldn't be able to change his decision.

The working hours extended late into 2200, afterwards the office occupants bid each other good night and went to their own room.


	5. Chapter 5: Medic and agriculture

**Another chapter has arrived. I felt really motivated now, thanks to all the views and support from you all. It is very encouraging and I really appreciate it**

 **RelishSuitedSNAFU:** **Thank you for the review. I actually read Gaijin Teitoku and was astonished how similar it is to my chapter 2. I was trying to find some event to develop my MC's personality and like a transition chapter to the first sortie chapter, and so I stumbled across the issue of ship breaking in the Kancolle forum and some other fanfics relating to it. So I apologize to ijnfleetadmiral if he finds the chapter 2 disturbing for the idea being too similar, and I will rewrite it if he requests.**

 **Reviews are highly appreciated, constructive criticism even more welcomed**

 **Disclaimer:** **I don't own Kancolle or any of its characters**

* * *

Chapter 5: Medic and agriculture

The Kongou sisters were having their trainings that morning, and their special guest who would be observing them from afar was none other than their Admiral, Hiroshi Lanne.

"Burning love!" Kongou shouted as she opened fire her 35.6 cm main guns onto the training target miles away

"Teitoku! Did you see that?!" She turned around, trying to boast her achievement

"Uhh…Kongou nee-sama?" Said the timid and soft Haruna behind her

"What is it Haruna?!" Kongou replied, her voice still energetic

"I'm sorry for ruining your mood, Kongou nee-sama, but he's not here yet."

"What?! Shit!" She cursed, "But I'll be sure to be the one to capture his attention next time!" but she never lost her determination.

Not far from their location, from the bank of the harbour, there were a small crowd, mainly destroyers who wanted either to see their idol in combat or to gain experience for themselves. Among the aweing crowd were the Nagato sisters silently watching the training. They were to be the aide aside Hiroshi, but they are currently the main observer due to the 'special guest' being late.

"Excuse me." Finally the Admiral finally made it through the crowd and reached his secretary ship. And his lateness had improved, a bit.

"You're finally here sir." Nagato said

"Sorry for being late, what did I miss?"

"Well…almost all of the important parts of the training. The last one was the mock battle."

"That's actually a good one. Who will partake in this?" He asked

"Mostly main light ships, but there are some new destroyers, mostly to let them experience battle first-hand."

Hiroshi raised his binocular to his eye level, observing as the girls started to assemble for the match. Among the participants was the former Torpedo Squadron 3. The squadron had been disbanded since Hiroshi's arrival for renovation, but in several occasions it was reinstated temporarily, and this time for training purposes

"Try to stay calm Fubuki-chan!" Mutsuki tried to soothe her friend

"To be honest, I can't bring myself to do that at all. This is the first time in a while that I'll actually get to fire a gun." She replied

"Just do what comes natural, Fubuki." Said the former flagship Sendai

"Hai…"

The battle commenced after 2 minutes of preparation. The opponent of Torpedo Squadron 3 was Torpedo Squadron 4, which was also disbanded, in this case sooner due to the sudden departure of Destroyer Kisaragi. Replacing her was the newly summoned Mutsuki-class Minazuki.

"Who do you think will win Admiral?" Asked his secretary ship.

"It doesn't matter. The matter is who will perform best, because they'll be necessary in the near future, especially when we are going to take Midway."

"Midway? I thought you are focusing on Okinawa?" Mutsu asked

"Yes, Midway shall be next. After I take Okinawa tomorrow or the day after it, I'll immediately form a plan to sweep through the Pacific and took Midway in 2.5 months."

"Sir, you seemed to be a bit overconfident. The IJN once took 6 months to plan and commence the attack on the Americans and yet they failed to do so."

"Ok, I may be boasting a bit, but in any cases, just around 3-4 months I'll be taking Midway back from those Abyssals."

"3-4 months are still too crazy to be accomplished."

"You have already forgotten the tornado sortie, haven't you? My greatest strength is the ability to accomplish things that seemed impossible to do. The element of surprise are always on my side, which is the key to my victory back in Kurima." Hiroshi said with complete confidence

"I know ladies, this wouldn't be capable without your ability to handle the battle. That is why I'm increasing the number of training hours, 3 hours to 5 hours a day. To reduce the derailing of plans when executing operations."

"Well sir. Is it really necessary?" Nagato asked

Hiroshi chuckled and gazed his binocular back at the battleground

"KYAHHHHHHHH!" A deafening scream came from the direction of the training ground. It revealed that the identity of the scream was the first ship of Special Destroyer Class Fubuki, Fubuki. She lost her balance when she tried to shoot while moving. As a result, she glided across the surface on 1 leg before plummeting, rising with a face full of water.

Hiroshi lowered his binocular, turned to his two aides.

"It is necessary."

With that he left the harbour early, despite being late.

* * *

Lunch went by normally for Hiroshi, aside from the fact that he received showers of apologies from the two carriers for the previous evening. Despite so he hasn't received any repay for his 21300 yen he spent that day.

As he had finished work early, he went for another stroll around the base. This time to the gym of the base.

"Training as usual Maya?" He said as he walked in. Only several girls were present inside the gym, including the one he just mentioned.

"Need something?" She replied while doing her bar pull-ups

"Nothing, just a visit. And next time, address me with sir at the end."

"What?! Ugh jeez! Fine!" She answered in deep exasperation. "Why do I have to do that anyway?!"

"To make you realize who you are talking to."

"Then how can I ditch that 'sir' of yours? I'm not used to it at all."

"When I feel that you are close or loyal enough."

"I'm loyal, and I can prove it to you."

"You remember yesterday? I don't think that's loyal enough."

Maya stopped her exercise, reminiscing what happened yesterday. The Ta-class, Arashio getting shot and finally, Hiroshi shouting harsh reprimands at her over the radio. It was so stern, strict and uncompromising that it scared her, even when she tried to be at her toughest. It was just like her first time being assigned to the base. It was not a good thing to remember, and ironically, the person reminded her was in the position of that someone who caused this to her.

For a while, she was deep in thought, completely forgetting what was happening around her. She was still hanging with her hands held tight to the bar. With a weight of a heavy cruiser and for such a long time, the durability of the bar dropped dramatically, and at one moment, snapped. Losing all points of contact with the push-up bar, she fell onto the ground, back first.

"I-I-Itai…" She returned to reality

"Are you alright?" Hiroshi immediately kneeled one foot right next to her, his face a bit surprised.

"Daijob-geh! That hurts!" She squeaked in pain. It appeared that her back wasn't the only place that took the force of gravity. Her left shoulder apparently hit a weight right below her, spraining the shoulder joint muscle.

"It doesn't look daijobu to me. Get up." Hiroshi grabbed her right arm, where her shoulder wasn't injured, and tried to pull her up.

"I told you, I'm alright. I can get up by my-Ugh!" She lied down once more, this time due to the back pain

"I'm the only one who you can count on right now. Don't be stubborn at times like this. Get up!" He ordered. He bent down and lend her his shoulder, lifting her up.

 _'_ _My training with those 2 carriers surely helped.'_

He escorted Maya to the infirmary. There were several empty beds inside, so he placed her down on a random bed.

"Alright, lie down. I'm gonna get something." He left and returned with an ice packs, some medical cotton, a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a sling.

"Stay…" He ordered gently as he started his treatment. Firstly, he lifted her shoulder above her torso. Secondly he wetted the cotton with the alcohol, rubbing it around the swelling. Then he proceeded to apply the ice pack onto the spot, followed by putting a sling to support her arm. All procedure he handled with extreme care and with great professionalism, avoiding pain to the maximum and making sure the sore area could heal as fast as possible.

"That should do it. Now. Keep it like that for 48 hours, remove the sling and do light exercise if the sore stopped, else see me or the doctor." He finished the knot to the sling.

"Thank…you. You can be kind sometimes." She tried to find a way to express her gratefulness.

 _'_ _Kind…'_

Hiroshi took a moment to let the word sink. But then he wore a sad smile

"That guy died a long time ago…" He muttered lowly

"What did you say?" She asked

"Nothing."

"I remember that you said something."

"I told you, it's nothing."

Maya looked unconvinced, but she couldn't prove that it wasn't nothing nevertheless

"Now you are allowing me to talk without the 'sir'"

"I wasn't paying attention to it. And don't start taking advantage of that."

"Jesus Christ. You are so annoying!" She said, exasperated

"Then maybe I should leave." Hiroshi stood up as he said that

"No…wait." She immediately switched back to the earlier tone

"What is it?"

"Can I have a talk with you?"

"Sure." He sat down on the bed again

"You used to be in the ground forces right?" She began

"Yeah, so?"

"Have you ever been reprimanded by your superior so badly that you felt that you are useless?"

"Hmm…" He took a few seconds to think. "To be honest, I got reprimanded a lot, but I rarely felt so."

"How come?"

"Just because people tends to throw scolds or insults at you doesn't mean you are useless." He said

"But how can you think like that so quickly, surely you have thought much about it?"

"I did, but I knew it wasn't the time to do so. Because failure comes when you overdo it."

"…"

"Perhaps you should try. It may not be easy for you but it's worth trying."

"I may…thank you…Admiral." She thanked

Hiroshi smiled lightly, for the soft side she just showed.

"You again allowed me to talk without 'sir'. What is with you?" Maya returned to her usual self

"I wasn't paying attention to it!" He emphasizes with resigning voice. Her softness lasted so 'long'.

"I suggest that you just ditch it and talk like me. It's better than being half-assed in honorifics and such."

"Keep dreaming." He stood up and headed for the door. But as he was about to leave, someone suddenly collided with his body.

"I'm sorry!" The girl squeaked as a natural response, a clear sign indicating that kanmusu was Haguro.

"It's alright. What is it that you seemed so hurried?" Hiroshi asked

"I-It's that…our plantation is having some problems."

"Plantation? Is it the area behind your dorm?"

"Yes…It's just that the plants aren't growing as we expected. Their growth rate is…pretty low." Haguro explained

"Are they provided minimum needs to grow?"

"Yes sir…they probably was having enough."

"Hmm…Then show me there."

"H-Hai" She turned around and started walking

After a short time, they reached the special dorm, but instead of going inside, the two of them walked around it, arriving at the back, where the Yamato-class and the rest of the Myoukou-class were gathering, the only exception was Yamato, who was on cleaning duty.

"Good morning Admiral. How's your day sir?" Myoukou greeted him politely

"It's fine, thank you. So what seems to be the problem here?" He jumped straight into the issue

"Well, as you can see, the plants were unable to grow for some unknown reasons. They are planted at a well-lighted area and are watered daily, but still…" She explained

Hiroshi looked around to check the conditions of the crops. They were indeed given adequate basic needs for growing, but somehow it was unnatural.

 _'_ _Lights check, humidity check, temperature check. I don't know if they water it daily but it seems so. Then this is related to other factors. What is it anyway?'_

"How long has it been since you started seeding?" Hiroshi asked

"A few weeks ago sir." Nachi replied

"Is it to cope with the issue relating to provisions?"

"Well…not quite sir. We have enough but we wanted additional, for some occasions or for gas-guzzlers like the battleships." She answered, causing the two super-battleships to look away in slight embarrassment.

"So fuel for you ship girls are food?"

"Hai."

Hiroshi laughed. He wondered what kind of world he was currently living in. It was completely different from what he knew back in the days. But no matter how weird it was, they were all soldiers, fighters against those Abyssals, so they should all deserve the same treatment as the others. That was what he thought in mind

 _'_ _The pH level of the soil seems to be fine, but it may need measur…Wait.'_

Hiroshi suddenly crouched down and used his gloved hand to dig a hole in the dirt as if he just found something. As expected, they weren't ploughed carefully. That allowed a form of bacteria to transform the nitrate into nitrogen, which could not be used in trees and crops. That pretty much explained everything.

"The cause of this issue is that you didn't plough the soil well enough."

"Why is it sir?" Some of the girls were confused at his explanation, so he went on in detail

"To keep it simple, there is a kind of bacteria that transform the energy source that crops uses into unusable gases. But because the bacteria works well in environments with limited air, ploughing made it possible to disable their activities."

"Ohhhh!" They looked as if they got it

"If you do it properly, it will also disrupt the weeds and bring nutrients to the soil."

"You seem to be very experienced in agriculture. Did you use to be a farmer or something before you joined the military?" Musashi commented

"No, I was born a noble, so I didn't know anything about it. The main reason is because I used to train my army to live off the land we stationed in. Due to the fact that our supply line wasn't stable so I had to do that to keep my troops fighting." He stood up while saying

"You are resourceful, aren't you?" She said with a hint of praise

"It's a common thing." Hiroshi said as if he didn't care, but in fact he caught the praise at its track and enjoyed it on the inside.

"So is there any advices for this little farm sir?"

"Yes, a few." Hiroshi then proceeded to explain everything he knew about agriculture in a concise manner; brief and comprehensively. It wasn't much, but useful to develop the plantation even further.

"Ohh, so that's it! Thank you Admiral!" Said Haguro

"That would be everything. I have to go now, inform me if there is any problem."

"See you, Admiral." The girls said as he left

* * *

His afternoon walk lasted for 15 more minutes, then he returned to his office, which he was, at first, a bit reluctant to.

"Ooyodo, is there any telegrams coming?" Hiroshi said upon entering

"No sir, not even one." She replied

"No news from the 7th Fleet?"

"No sir, we don't know anything yet."

"How is that possible? They should be informing us periodically about the fleet status before a major operation." Nagato said

"They are probably having problems of their own." Mutsu said

"But that's not a reason. I mean, that shouldn't be big enough of a problem. And if there is any delays, they have to inform us."

 _'_ _What are they doing? They should have departed by now.'_

"Telegraph them to inform us as soon as they left." He ordered

"Yes sir."

"I'll give them a few days. Hopefully, the Abyssals at the typhoon area won't leave that island."

"Do you think this is a bad sign, Admiral?" Mutsu asked

"I hope not."

The battleship shrugged her shoulder. She then went out, followed by Nagato, to ease the numbness of her butt that resulted from hours of sitting on her chair. Hiroshi went to the bookshelf and got himself a book to kill the time.

 _'"_ _Last night I dreamed of peace". I haven't read this yet.'_

And afterward, he spent the day reading the book, his mind completely drifted away into the diary.

* * *

 **'Last night I dream of peace' is the diary of doctor Dang Thuy Tram, who served during Vietnam War and was killed in action. That explains the last line when I said diary. I suggest buying it and reading it when you have the time, it is very meaningful.**

 **Stay tune for more chapters**


	6. Chapter 6: Annulation

**My apologies for the short and fast paced chapter. I haven't quite figured out of anything interesting to place in between these incidents. And I'm sorry for posting a bit later than usual, school work is quite keeping me from progressing this story. But I will still continue this story, so stay tune to that.**

 **Thank you Lt. Cmdr. Jonathan Miller for another review**

 **Thank you cko2 for reviewing chapter 5, I really appreciate your views and support. Very much thank you**

 **Disclaimer:** **Kancolle and its character belonged to their respective owner**

* * *

It has been a week and the 7th Fleet hasn't issued the order to attack yet. Countless telegraphs were sent to their base of operation, but he received none in return. . Hiroshi's thin patience was getting thinner and thinner by time, until he finally took matters to his own hand by sending a team to discover what was keeping them from attacking.

"Nagato-senpai!" Destroyer Asashio rushed into Admiral's office, which Hiroshi wasn't in there at the time being. With her was the report she written in hurry.

Nagato tried to read the badly written note written by Asashio. Badly, in both ways.

"The Admiral won't like this at all."

* * *

"Look here, the bulge for destroyers aren't even strong enough for my pistol round." Hiroshi pulled out his service gun and pulled the trigger. The bullet screamed out and punched through the prototype bulge like knife cutting through butter.

"Wearing armour like this is like wearing nothing. What did you use to make this?" He continued

"Well, there were a bunch of trash chocolates that were to be disposed, but I collected some of it. I figured that I could make something useful from it, due to its immense radioactive energy it contains." Akashi replied

"Radioactive? Since when chocolate have them?"

"That's a result of a few kanmusus being left to their own culinary exploits sir. It's over there." She pointed to a room, where the chocolate was stored inside, with a layer of transparent aluminium boxed to minimize its deadly radiation. Hiroshi's expression darken in a comically way as he saw the contaminated chocolate emitting green gases within the platinum box.

"Don't worry sir. We are unaffected by it, it's just bad food to us."

"It's not you, it's me that matters."

Their conversation was suddenly interrupted by the entrance of the naval base's secretary ship, Nagato, holding a piece of paper.

"Leave us alone Akashi."

"What is it, Nagato-san?"

"Just do it. It's urgent."

Akashi immediately complied and left the room, leaving only Hiroshi and Nagato inside.

"What seems to be the problem?" Hiroshi asked

"News from Asashio of the recon team. They just returned to base a few minutes ago."

"News from the 7th Fleet? I've been waiting for that for a week." Hiroshi poured himself a cup of water while saying. "And have you read it?"

"Yes sir."

"Then tell me instead, briefly. What does it say?"

What could possibly be happening there?

She took a deep breath.

"Taipei has fallen."

Hiroshi turned around instantly, his expression immediately paled. His mouth shut tight, frozen in place, his brain apparently under huge confusion and needed rebooting.

Is that for real? That he just lost the battle even before it had started?

He stared right into his secretary ship, his posture absolutely still, as if asking her for confirmation.

"7 warships were sunk during the battle, 2 were heavily damaged. General Yuu of the 7th Fleet has issued the order to surrender his 30000 men and all the remaining ships to the Abyssals" She continued

 _'Surrender…Abyssals…'_ The word continuously ricocheted inside his mind, adding further insult to injury.

Such dishonour. Such cowardice. How can someone even execute this kind of command?

His face at one moment was the true definition of shock, yet his calm self eventually took over.

"Coward." Still he muttered audibly. He walked to Nagato, stared into her eyes and asked

"What happened to all those men who surrendered?"

"We don't know for sure, but in Abyssal's case, they are most likely dead now." She said, apparently shocked and was also trying to cool it off.

It couldn't get worse.

"And that general Yuu, where is he now?"

"Well, general Yuu…" She paused, searching for words that best describe the situation.

"Tell me! What happened to him?!" Hiroshi's patience was as thin as ever

"The HQ has detected a vessel suspecting to depart from Taipei moments before the battle began. So it's possible that he has left Taipei."

"Are you saying that he has fled from danger?" He asked with a voice cold as ice from the South Pole.

"I don't really mean that but…yes." She replied

 _'Fled…'_ It again managed to slip through and echoed in his mind.

It got worse.

It's unimaginable.

"And you say that you didn't really mean that?! It's clear!" He snapped, flinching even the usually intimidating and serious Nagato. "My God, I've trusted him. I even provided him with resources to carry out the attack, and yet this is how he repay me…Such treachery!"

"Admiral, I know you are furious about this, but you have to come out with a solution for this." She tried to restrain his irritation, but to no avail. He was starting to lose his calm self.

"Solution? What do you think? We can only cancel the operation. Or at best postpone it until the HQ send another fleet to cooperate."

"Sir, I suggest consulting the top brass directly in the next council meeting, which is at Yokosuka the day after tomorrow."

"They won't listen. The last time I directly consult them, I got my budget cut down to almost nothing."

"But there's nothing else better to do sir. Admiral, you just have to try, nothing will go wrong even if you fail."

Will it?

She didn't even think twice before saying that.

Just hopefully he would reconsider. He had nothing to lose now.

Hiroshi sighed in depression and shook his head.

"…Fine. But I will most likely have to take matters into my own hand. Don't expect too much."

"And could you bring Yamato and Musashi there? I think it's a good chance for them to boost our performance and for them to visit the nearby town." She asked

"That isn't an issue." Hiroshi approved

"Alright sir. The plane will depart at 0900 the day after tomorrow, so…I know this is hard for you but…" She said with a bit of sarcasm. "please wake up early that day."

"Where and when did you learn to say such things to your superior?" He returned her with a voice mocking her in return. Hiroshi left with those words said.

* * *

Hiroshi arrived at the special dorm once more. He was a frequent guest here recently so he was permitted to walk in freely into the hall.

"Admiral, you look kinda down today huh?" Musashi asked while eating her small afternoon meal, which in reality is a huge hamburger with a portion 2 times larger than a normal dinner.

"Yeah, it's just that my plan is foiled, for the most part. And the worst part is that the cause of it is the incompetence and chickening of my ally." He answered without paying any attention to her meal.

"It seemed bad. And what are you going to do about that?"

"My last hope is to persuade the HQ to send another fleet to attack, which is exactly what I'm going to attempt the day after tomorrow at the council meeting." Hiroshi said. "And that is why I'm here anyway, to tell you that you'll be coming with me there."

"Why exactly should I be there?" She asked in a disinterested tone.

"To boost our rating and performance. In that case the HQ will trust us more and allow us to act more freely."

"You see, I don't dislike changing the atmosphere once in a while, but I kinda don't like being a model to impress others. So basically, I'm not interested in going."

"You have the right to refuse, though you may be given a chance to fire your gun and hone your skills in combat."

"Really? I can do that?" Hiroshi nodded at her question. "Then I guess I'll go as well."

 _'She's so easy to guess.'_

"Where's Yamato anyway? I want to invite her as well."

"She's in the kitchen."

The Admiral trotted inside. He arrived at a medium sized room full of kitchen facilities. No one was there aside from Yamato, who was busy preparing dinner for the dorm

"Konichiwa, Teitoku. How are you today sir?" She greeted him as politely as usual

"Not fine, but thank you." He returned with a slight sigh

"What happened?" She became concerned

Hiroshi paused for a few seconds

"We lost Taipei."

This time it was Yamato's turn to be silent. She immediately placed her hand on her chest, her eyes became much deeper, her small lips opened slightly, indicating a shock to her despite the event not having much effect on her. She was truly a thoughtful girl

"That is why I have to apologize beforehand, for may not be able to keep my promise."

"Eh?...No no sir, it's not your fault. It was out of your expectation after all."

"There is still a chance for this to work, and that I'll need to convince them at the council meeting this Friday. And by the way, if you like you can come along. It's for performance and rating boost and a chance to visit the nearby town." He said

"Will Musashi come with us?"

"Yes. We'll depart by plane at 0900 this Friday."

"Yes sir, I shall remember the date."

Hiroshi smiled lightly in return. Without wasting his time, he returned to his office.

* * *

0850 Friday morning

The C-130 transport plane has already landed and was parked at Chinatsu's runway for refuel, which in fact was just a long concrete path. At the side of the runway, Musashi, Yamato, Nagato and Mutsu was waiting for their Admiral to arrive.

"Just in the nick of time sir." Said Nagato

"Sorry, I overslept a bit." Hiroshi replied

"Waking him up is total hell." Ooyodo complained while walking right beside him

Hiroshi came right in front of the four battleships and waited for the plane to taxi over and let them board. He was wearing a dark navy blue double breasted uniform with golden button and a peaked cap with navy insignia. There were medals and epaulettes on his uniform as well but it was hidden behind a navy blue cape that covered his shoulder and chest. The back of the cape extended down to his ankle that flutters slightly in the wind.

"You look grand in that clothes sir. Is this your new uniform?" His secretary ship complemented

"Not really new, I got this a few years ago"

"I remember that the IJN didn't have any sort of uniform like that. Especially that cape." Mutsu glanced at him top to bottom. "Where did you get it anyway?"

"It was custom-made for celebrations and ceremonies, but I used them in combat sometimes." Said Hiroshi

"Isn't it uncomfortable during battle? I mean that cape might get stuck somewhere."

"If I intend to place myself ahead of the troops, I will wear something else. And by the way, do you wear the same clothes all the time? Because I have never seen you all with anything aside from these."

"We wear casual clothes very often, the reason why you didn't know is because you are not to intrude our privacy."

"Not to? I'm your superior, I can do it whenever I like. The problem is that I can't bring myself to."

"My my…so gallant." Mutsu said in a joking and slightly seductive manner.

"Quit that voice. Don't even try to speak to me with that voice." In return, he replied in a way so blunt and humourless that dispirited the nearby ships who were eager for a laugh worthy silly conversation.

"You really are deadpanned sir." Ooyodo sighed in resignation

"And you have a problem with it?" He questioned in annoyance

"It's not fun."

"Then deal with it. That's your problem for not being able to tolerate with it."

The C-130 taxied into position, lowered the stair and let them board.

"Let's go. I hand the base to you three." He indicated his three aides.

"A pleasure sir."

He gave a satisfying smile, then got in the plane. After they seated themselves on the plane, the engine roared loudly. The C-130 soon took off, starting their trip to Yokosuka.

* * *

 **Trivia: Annulation is a French word for cancellation**


	7. Chapter 7: Unexpected reunion

**First of all, thank you cko02, gvintheodore, Lt. Cmdr. Jonathan Miller for reviewing chapter 6.**

 **Secondly, a warning that this chapter will be over 5000 words long, and a bit of a brutal street fight scene.**

 **And finally, thank you for all your support with this story. Because of school works, I couldn't manage to keep the story up to date as often as the early chapters, but I'll try to update this as regularly as possible, so stay tune for more chapters to come.**

 **Disclaimer:** **Most contents here are fictional and has nothing to do with reality. Also all of Kancolle's character belongs to its respective owners**

* * *

Chapter 7: Unexpected reunion

"Ladies and gentlemen, we will proceed to land on HMS Queen Elizabeth R08. From there we will go to Yokosuka Naval Base by boat. The local time is 1100, temperature 30 degrees Celsius, 86 degrees Fahrenheit, wind speed 3 km per hour. I hope you have a nice flight with the JASDF."

Hiroshi stopped camping with his book at the pilot's announcement. He looked outside and saw a large CV shaped like a piece in a jigsaw game. There were 1 long runway, 2 control towers, and various planes stationed on the deck of the carrier.

"We're landing on a British vessel?" Asked Musashi

"Yes. For years, the British are sending in fleets to assist the opposition against the Pacific Abyssals, notably some of their own kanmusus."

"They have kanmusus at their disposal as well? I thought that technology is ours and only."

"It is ours, it's just that it is not confidential. They need to fight in their own theatre as well."

"Hmm…" She muttered in understanding

The plane landed softly on the carrier deck. It then taxied slowly to a tight spot between two other aircrafts and stopped, the door slowly opened. The just emptied runway was immediately filled with military personals in uniforms with guns on their shoulder, creating a path for the trio to walk through.

Hiroshi stepped out, followed by the two battleships. The trio was then led through the short column of soldiers toward a group of men standing near one of the control towers. They were all officers and veterans who were given quite a position in the British Royal Navy, all waiting for him to arrive

At the centre of the group stood a tall man in his late twenties, a few years older than Hiroshi. He had short silky light brown hair, most of them hidden under his white officer cap, and eyes with similar colour. He was wearing a Black Royal navy uniform with two golden shoulder straps, various medals and decorations on its upper top and a golden aiguillette on the right side.

Hiroshi immediately recognized who he was.

"Arthur!" He waved once to let him know. Arthur didn't motion himself, but gave a smile, a sign that he noticed.

As soon as he came close, Hiroshi made a handshake with the man, their grip tight and squeezing. With their hand still connected, they gave each other a friendly hug. After a few seconds, they separated

"I must admit, I'm really surprised that you rose to this rank so quickly. Only a few within the Japanese general officers are this young." Arthur said with British accent, his smile still retained on his face

"You said like you were the inferior one, while in reality, you are the same. The title of Vice Admiral in England isn't plain sailing." Hiroshi replied in a friendly way.

"I'm nearly 30. That may be a bit early, but in England if you have enough qualification, it's not that difficult to rise to such ranks."

"And to be awarded the badge of honour by the French and German Navy for exceptional services. I think that's too difficult for me to achieve." Said Hiroshi

The British Admiral was in silence for a few seconds, looking at Hiroshi with convince. He then chuckled loudly

"Alright, I admit defeat. You are still the persuasive Hiroshi I knew years ago."

"There are some things that does not change over time."

"Perhaps." Arthur said as they gave each other another friendly hug

"Years ago…are they friends?" Yamato whispered to her sisters behind the two men

"I think so…" Musashi replied

Arthur then noticed the two kanmusus standing behind Hiroshi as the two separated.

"Are these two your friend?" He asked

"These are two of my fleet girls, Yamato and Musashi." The two girls bowed slightly at his introduction.

"Vice Admiral Arthur Vaillant of the British Royal Navy. It is a pleasure to meet you." He bowed and kissed Yamato in her hands, causing her to blush.

"Do you two know each other?" Musashi asked

"Yeah, we used to fight alongside each other during my early years in service, until he returned to England over 3 years ago." Hiroshi answered.

"Just say that I'm his personal friend." Arthur chimed in.

"But you haven't told me why you are here. I didn't expect to see you here." Said Hiroshi

"The same reason when I first came, to assist the Japanese in the Pacific Theatre. So as a result…" He extended his hand. "I will be working closely with you and the JSDF for the time being."

Hiroshi looked at the two ship girls behind her, and took his hand with grace, indicating a long-term partnership with the person he once fought side by side.

* * *

Arthur then led Hiroshi, Musashi and Yamato below, to the boat launching pad. There, they boarded a small boat. The boat, after being launched slowly, started to accelerate and headed for Yokosuka.

"So have you heard the news? That Taipei has fallen into enemy hands." Hiroshi turned to Arthur.

"Just yesterday. The South Pacific is now under their boot heels. The only exception is Asuka K.M.S Base. It's a total disaster" He replied

"If the HQ doesn't do anything, Asuka will fall as well."

"I can say the same. But don't worry too much about it. Their commander, Mai, is doing her best to keep those Abyssals at bay."

"K.M.S base is still a base. It isn't invincible nor invulnerable."

"But you can at least say that it will not for the time being. Mai Hayashi only bears the rank of Commander and is younger than you, but she is a prodigy in strategical thinking and planning. We can have some faith in her."

 _'_ _Mai Hayashi huh…'_

"Still, we can't count on her forever. We'll need to attack and establish contact with her soon." Said Hiroshi

"It won't be easy, I tell you my dear Hiroshi." Arthur advised

"Nothing comes easy Arthur. Difficulties and casualties are to be accepted when stepping into war."

"I understand that, but sometimes the easy way is the better way to reduce bloodshed."

"If you go easy, you might avoid bloodshed one time, but there may be more in other times. That's what I did in Kurima"

"The cost of 11500 thousand men is to avoid further bloodshed?" Arthur said in slight annoyance and mocking.

"Do you think I'm that heartless Arthur? Do you know how hard it was to write those death notice to the families of those who died?" Hiroshi replied with a heavy voice

"You wrote those death notice Hiroshi?" Arthur's voice turned to a surprised and gentle tone

"Not all, but some." Replied Hiroshi

Arthur was once again silenced, this time for a different reason. He looked in the direction of forward, his gaze separated from Hiroshi, a kind smile formed on his face.

"I don't think you are heartless Hiroshi, not even once…"

Hiroshi said nothing. He just looked at the ocean, trying to forget what was mentioned. What he didn't know is that his conversation with Arthur was a bit too audible, that his two kanmusus sitting behind him had heard everything.

 _"_ _Admiral…"_ Were the thoughts running inside Yamato's mind. Although artificial, her brain could clearly process the information and her current emotion.

But she could only look at him in silence.

* * *

The boat arrived at Yokosuka sometime later, and after a while walking, they arrived before a large building painted in a brick-red colour. Before it was a large courtyard, full of high-ranking officers and guards who were here for the council meeting.

After getting authorised by the guards, the four of them marched through the courtyard and inside the building. On the way, there were some murmurs among the officers, either about Arthur or Hiroshi. They arrived before two huge doors connected to some rooms.

"Alright, behind the doors is the meeting room. I'm afraid you are not allowed to go in there." Hiroshi told Yamato and Musashi. "Yet I think there are some jobs for you to do here, if you like. Or if you don't like it, you can wait inside the waiting room."

"Hai." They both said as they turned away

"Such nice girls." Arthur commented as Hiroshi knocked the door.

A voice saying 'Come in' could be heard behind the doors. Hiroshi opened the door.

It was a pretty spacious room but without any windows. There was a huge round table in the middle of the room, comfortable chairs assembled in a circle near the table. There were a few TV sets situated on the walls of the room, one notably larger than the others. The room full of military personals and generals sitting near the table, most of them were men in their middle age. Only one, aside from Arthur and Hiroshi, wasn't classified as old man, or rather old woman.

At the back of the room, there was a wooden table with three chairs behind it, seated by three people. Noticeably the one in the middle. He was Kuro Shimizu, head of the Japanese Ministry of Defence

"State your name and ranks." He said

"Hiroshi Lanne, Admiral of the JMSDF, at your disposal!" Hiroshi yelled loud enough for him to hear

"Arthur Vaillant, Vice Admiral of the British Royal Navy, at your service!" Arthur did the same

"At ease." He commanded. The duo got himself seated and the meeting started in an instance.

"So to start our meeting, firstly, we'll discuss the current situation at Saoux Island." He held a remote in his hand and pressed a button on it. A map indicating a small island shaped in the letter 'L' was shown on the board. Several coloured dots were also seen, indicating both side's composition.

"On the 20th of October this year, the Coalition composed of 5 countries, Japan, Germany, Britain, France and The United State, will put all of our effort into a decisive battle against the Abyssal's fleet stationed in the island." He announced. This stirred up some arguments among the officers inside the meeting room. Some were in favour, some were against.

"Silence!" He yelled out loud in the microphone in a strict manner, shutting every individuals in the room up.

"If anyone want to have their ideas spoke up, leave it until the end." He then continued to explain the strategy.

 _'_ _So they are going to go ahead with it anyway. They never learn…'_

"Any objections?" Kuro said as he finished.

Despite the earlier commotion, none raised their hands, seemingly convinced with the plan. The only exception was…

"Yes, Hiroshi?"

"With all respect sir, the plan will end in total disaster." He stated out his opinion briefly, stirring up again commotions.

"Silence!" He yelled again to the officers. "Why is it Admiral Hiroshi? Why do you think this will end in catastrophe?"

"First of all, the numbers may be on our side, but the Abyssals have more manoeuvrability, more firepower and more emotionless than us. They are much more aggressive, they're much more skilful than we are. Moreover, conventional weaponry only works against normal type Abyssals. The Battleship Summer Princess is a heavy type, a boss type, which we have little chance of taking out on our own." Hiroshi expressed himself in detail.

"The Coalition Fleet does not only contain conventional weaponry, there is an ultimate weapon at our disposal."

"And that is?"

"A new type of warhead equivalent to 3 tons of TNTs which will be carefully placed in the harbour. With such immense force, the enemy will be taken down as easily as eating a piece of cake." Kuro said with a confident voice.

"That's not going to work." Hiroshi said bluntly.

"It is going to work. Don't be such a defeatist, Admiral."

"I tell you, it is not going to work out well. You'll never get close enough to place it. Not without the role of the fleet girls."

"The fleet girls? You value their power that much?"

"Yes, their ability is the same as those Deep Sea Fleets. They have more potential than you think."

"But what have they achieved? Nothing. They only held the enemies at bay at best."

"It's because you are so bad at using manpower but still having too much pride in yourself that you couldn't see anything ahead of you." Hiroshi turned to become really mocking, which partially angered Kuro. Nevertheless, he retained his professional composure.

"Enough Admiral." He said. "If you don't have any other arguments regarding this issue then this plan will go on as it is, despite how much you insult us."

 _'_ _Jackpot.'_

After a few seconds of silence, he continued.

"I do have one, yes…I'm sure the lot of you haven't forgotten how 25000 men of the ill-fated 13th Fleet were slaughtered at Cape Gloucester during the battle of Cape Gloucester. I heard…they were trying to take out the Abyssals with mini-nuclear missiles, which ended in their own vessels sunk to the bottom of the ocean."

A brief moment of silence followed, then Kuro spoke up

"What are you implying?"

"That this kind of failure has happened once. And you can't afford to let it happens again. You'll not only seal the fate of the Coalition with this disaster, but also humiliate yourself in front of humanity and history."

Kuro remained still for a while. His confidence in the operation was shaken by Hiroshi's sudden attack. Hiroshi was true about one thing that he was a man of pride, too much pride, so that anything that touched his self-esteem will either be met with his rage or manipulate him. And Hiroshi took the second option

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Kuro said, persuaded.

"Your primary objective is to take Okinawa back from the Abyssals. Saoux can wait for the time being."

"That cannot be done just yet Admiral, we don't have enough resource for it yet. Our main focus will be Saoux, which we have already put our resources for 3 months." He explained. "This is set in stone, we will still attack Saoux at all cost."

"Then if I can secure for you a total victory, you'll fund Okinawa invasion."

"Deal." Kuro said. Hiroshi sat down, somewhat satisfied

The meeting went on for another hour, then Kuro concluded with a quick salute to the officers. The room occupants soon filed out, only a few remained.

"You look confident." Arthur said, walking next to Hiroshi

"Yes indeed, I've managed turned the favour of this negotiation to guns and bullets. It will be easier from now on."

"Are you sure of a victory Hiroshi? The officers seemed distrustful toward it."

"They always forget that the more impossible it seems, the more likely it is for me to accomplish it. The element of surprise is on my side every time."

Arthur smirked at his friend's usual confidence, scratched his cheek then said.

"Then I'll be rooting for your victory."

"This is the first time you openly express support to me. What has come into you?" Hiroshi turned to his friend with a face of disbelief.

"Nothing, I just wanted you to win so that I don't have to waste my time fighting." He replied plainly, leaving Hiroshi dumbstruck.

"So that's your true reason…Fuck you…" Hiroshi replied, for the umpteenth time, exasperated. Arthur's smirk soon turned in to a loud amusing laugh that further added insult to his injury.

The two Admirals headed for the waiting room, looking for the two ship girls, but they weren't there when the two arrived.

"They're not here, where are they?" Asked Arthur

"They may be at the courtyard, or in the cafeteria." Hiroshi said

The two headed for the courtyard, and saw a group of people gathered around two tall girls. They were immediately recognized.

"Come on Yamato-san, do you have someone you like?!" One of the guards continued to bombard her with yet another question.

"My hobbies...Well…" She paused nervously. "It's no one really…"

"You must have one really?! Like me, I have a girlfriend who is…" Another guard proceeded to blabber everything about his crush, her hobbies, her personality and even their first time, which painted the face of the two super-battleships crimson red. Even so, the guard continued to storm her with questions that she was too flustered to answer

"Gentlemen." The guards were interrupted by Hiroshi's sudden entrance. They quickly assembled two lines orderly in front of him and saluted him.

"At ease." He commanded. "I'm sorry to interrupt your gossips with my two subordinates here, but we must go. So would you please return to your duty?"

"Yes sir!" The guards and lower-ranking officers shouted and scrambled out, each in their own ways.

"How is it going sir?" Yamato asked

"Surprisingly well on my part." He replied

"That's truly great!"

"Nagato was right, now the job is much easier than before. Also I think I can assure you two some slots in the fleet."

Their face shined at that instance.

"Thank you very much Admiral!"

"Now we have plenty of times until the plane departs, so we could explore the nearby town." He answered with a smile.

"…I'm sorry but I don't think I could come." Musashi said

"Why can't you come?"

"I promised the officers and generals to give them a demonstration of my main guns."

"Then you can stay here. How about you?" He addressed Yamato

"Me? I'm alright with the idea." She replied

"Ok, then."

The two went for the entrance, passed through the guards and walked down the path toward the town. It was a small but new town that a few years ago, it didn't even exist on the surface of this planet, but now the town is one of the most attractive tourist attraction in Japan since the Abyssal invasion, especially for the soldiers at Yokosuka

"This reminds me of my time in the JGSDF. I used to come here often." Hiroshi started

"You work nearby sir?" Asked Yamato

"No, but council meetings were frequent, so I came to Yokosuka like…once every two months."

"Where do you work while in the JGSDF sir?"

"Everywhere, but usually at Solomon. The last time was at Kurima, New Guinea."

"And then you joined the Navy?"

He exhaled heavily, reminiscing that day.

"Yes, through a battle that I never wanted to remember."

Or want to repeat.

"…" She stayed silent after what he said.

She didn't say anything, because she already knew everything.

They both continued their journey into town without the slightest interaction with each other, mainly because both didn't know what to say. During the walk, they came upon a restriction sash, which was hung right next to a lorry being lifted over, and was on fire. Nearby was a crater with a size as large as the lorry itself, the trough was still smoking.

"Looks like the aftermath of a bombing run not long ago." Hiroshi speculated

"Hmm…I wonder what happened to the driver." Yamato asked with concern

"Beats me, but it doesn't look like he's dead. Probably in some hospitals."

"It's hard to believe such things are still happening around in the world…It hurts to see it."

"That's you. You haven't seen everything out there." He replied in a heavy and saddened voice.

"Is it that bad sir?"

Hiroshi just nodded. That much was already enough.

"…I'm sorry." She said after a period of pauses

"For what?"

"For reminding you of those memories. You probably don't want to remember it"

"Hmhh, it's true that, but without them I wouldn't be here today, would I? Commanding you kanmusus. Life here is a bit more chaotic but yeah, it's more pleasant."

Yamato's apologetic face soon turned into a smile, a silent smile, as they continued their journey.

After a few hours exploring the town, it was time for lunch.

"I'm a bit hungry."

Hiroshi stopped and looked and sniffed around. He pointed at his 2 o' clock.

"There's a noodle shop over there. Let's go"

Hiroshi didn't wait for Yamato's approval, he started fast walking toward the shop. As he entered, a really pleasant aroma of rice noodle filled the air. The tables were packed as many people were gathering for lunch as well. Luckily, there was one empty table left, and the two quickly sat down.

"Two of your usual servings here." Hiroshi ordered

"It's beef noodles, yes, just a moment. Do you want anything to drink sir?" The waiter asked

"I'm good, how about you?"

"I'll just have lemon juice." Yamato said.

The waiter nodded, then he left the table, only to come out the food that was ordered. He placed the lemon glass down first, then the two noodles bowls. Two large noodles bowls.

"Have a nice meal." The waiter said.

"Aren't they a bit too generous for giving us such a large bowl of noodles? There are a lot of them."

"Really? I think this is small size." Yamato uttered.

 _'_ _What?! This is small si-…-wait.'_ Hiroshi suddenly realized the huge huge HUGE mistake he had just made. His face, despite not showing it, was screaming in terror. His wallet was still empty from the last incident with the 1st CarDiv, the only cash he had inside of it was several notes derived early from his wage. And currently it was on the brink of being burned.

"Are you alright Admiral?" Yamato asked, seeing Hiroshi's paled face (looks like he couldn't hide his emotion completely).

"Huhh?!...I'm alright. It's nothing." Hiroshi answered awkwardly.

"Is it about my appetite?" She hit the jackpot. Hiroshi's pale face got paler and paler as she said that, making it more obvious to her. And then he finally admitted.

"Yes." There's no way he could explain this. He's doomed, either to be shamed or to remain below the poverty line.

Yamato's face turned slightly purple as she was getting incensed. He had to cool her down

"Wait wait! I don't mean that! It's just something that I don't want to experience once more."

"Something?" She asked

"Yes, an incident last week." He then told her the drinking incident with the 1st CarDiv. As a response, her previous anger soon fade away, replaced by a fit of giggles.

"Hee hee, that was interesting. So have they paid you back yet?" She asked

"No." Hiroshi replied bluntly, trying to suppress her laughter, but turned out making her giggle even more.

"Now I have to withdraw from my salary early to survive through this month, or else it's potatoes every day."

"Don't worry Admiral, I won't eat much, and I'll pay for my part." She said understandingly.

"No I'll pay. If you eat around 4 bowls below, I'll be fine for the month."

 _'_ _Hopefully…'_ He added inside his mind

"Thank you very much!" She thanked with earnest

"Itadakimasu." Said Hiroshi as they dug in their food

Their lunch passed by without incident. After lunch, they decided to visit some of the local museums and souvenir shops, which went well for the most part.

"Looks like there's a new bar here. I didn't see it the last time I was here." Noticed Hiroshi

"Hmm."

"How about we check it out?"

"Well…should we sir? I don't think I could drink alcohol." She said

"Not every bar necessarily have to serve alcohol, it could be cocktails or soft drinks. We are just checking out. But if you don't like it-"

"It's alright Admiral, let's go."

They started to walk into the alley, where the main entrance to the bar is placed. It was a pretty uncleaned and desolated as it was just a small alley. But it wasn't completely desolated.

"Hay girl!" A yell was heard from deep in the alley. It came from a young man, in his thirties, with black spiky hair. He was wearing blue jeans and a white T-shirt and a light jacket wore on the outside. Accompanying him was a tall, "bodybuilder-like" delinquent with flat blonde hair. He was around the age and wore pretty much the same types of clothes and as his friend, but without the jacket. They were all walking toward the two

 _'…'_ Hiroshi stopped in his track and gazed at the two men. It didn't look like they were paying any attention to him, but to his ship girl, Yamato.

"You're a real pretty ya know. How about hanging out with us here?" The shorter man asked with a plaguing voice. Yamato, who had little history of socializing, was completely flustered and nervous.

"…Umm…Uhh…I-I'm sorry…I…" She paused and stuttered frequently.

"What's the matter babe? Come on, it'll be fun!"

"…I-I'm with him right now…" She indicated Hiroshi

"Him? Tha military guy? Isn't it boring? I say ditch him and hang out with us." The tall man said without even looking at who he was referring to

Hiroshi watched the scene in complete silence, often looked at his watch. His mood at that moment was completely unreadable, no aura, no facial gesture, his dark eyes devoid of all emotions, just a cold, still and blank posture.

"What are you doing?!" Yamato gave a squeal as one of the men touched her

"Just curious." He chuckled

"Stop!" She tried to push him away. They only laughed.

"What you gonna do? A whore like you can't do shit aside from doing chores and cooking."

Hiroshi, at that moment, grabbed her hand and pulled her back. He said, his voice hadn't regained emotion yet

"Alright gentlemen, harassment time is over." He turned back. "Forget the bar, let's go."

"Whatcha think you're doing you prick?!" The spiky haired man shouted

"Taking her away." He replied frankly, angering the two men.

"And you think we'll let you do that?!"

"Yes." Another blunt reply

The shorter guy forcefully laid his arm on Hiroshi's shoulder and spun him 180 degrees. He then grabbed the collar of the Admiral's uniform.

"You faggit. You won't get away with this!" He yelled.

All of a sudden, Hiroshi's hands shot upward. His right hand placed on his neck, the other on his right shoulder. At the same time, his right leg swept the man's legs, causing him to lose his balance. After focusing all his strength on his two arms, he threw the man down, head first.

The man screamed in panic and pain as the back of his head met the ground with the equivalent force of his own body weight.

Hiroshi then send a punch to his abdomen, blood spilled out from the corner of his mouth. He soon took a ticket to unconsciousness.

The tall muscular man was surprised at first, but he then rushed to Hiroshi with his arm raised, trying to deliver a punch to Hiroshi's face. In response, Hiroshi reached for his service pistol, a customized T/G2 Contender pistol, raised it to his shoulder level.

The muscular man saw it, but couldn't really react.

And, as the distance between the fist and the barrel of the gun was about a few centimetres left, he open fired.

The bullet punched through most of his arms, breaking all of his bones there. Red fluids started pouring out of the two gunshot wounds like fountains.

The man immediately clutched his right arm in agony, but his forehead then made contact with the stock of the pistol, sending him to the ground.

Hiroshi sat on the man's chest, his gloved hand placed on his neck

"Y-Y-You monster!" He screamed out

"I beg your pardon." Hiroshi replied coldly as his grip tightened, causing him to choke.

"N-N-No-…" He struggled to speak, and was met with a brutal smash to the right temple by Hiroshi's pistol. Hiroshi stood up as the delinquent slumped into unconsciousness, pulled out his phone and called the ambulance.

"I've called the ambulance, they'll be here soon. It's their work from now on."

"…Should we leave them here?" Yamato said looking at the two unconscious men.

"They are scums and cowards going off causing trouble while the planet is in mortal danger. There are brave men out there that should've lived in their place." Hiroshi replied with venom and disgust.

"Come on, there's no point staying here."

* * *

They were returning to the building where they left a few hours ago in silence. Awkward silence. He knew something was off

"You look down. What seems to be bothering you?" He asked Yamato

"Nothing."

"Your face tells me that it's something."

"It's really nothing sir." She repeated

Hiroshi stared at her face, specifically, her eyes. It was a sure tell that it wasn't nothing. But he just said.

"Ok then it's nothing."

Another period of uncomfortable silence followed.

"Admiral…" Yamato finally broke the silence

"Yes." He replied

"Do you think I'm useless as a ship girl?"

"What makes you think that?"

"Just…a moment ago."

 _'_ _My prediction was correct then.'_

"No." He decided to be straightforward again.

"No? What…do you mean?" She asked, her voice started to trail off

"The answer is 'No, you are not useless'. Isn't that clear enough?"

He was frank. Too frank. She knew that trait, but in the end, she couldn't understand it.

"No…no way…you're lying…right?" Her eyes started to tear up, her voice was barely audible.

Hiroshi turned around to that sound.

He saw her teary eyes.

His eyes widened.

How was it that?

"How can you tell me that I'm not useless…I've never been useful to anyone, ever since I was constructed! People just told me that I'm a piece of scrap, a waste of resources!" She talked while sobbing.

At that moment, she looked so familiar, yet so distant.

She was so transparent, to the point that he could see someone else in it.

Someone…

It snapped him out of his usual self.

He had once done this before. Turning into someone else, for someone else. Now he's doing it again, not believing that he's doing this.

He couldn't stand seeing her cry like that. It doesn't suit her beautiful face.

"Have I ever lied to you before? Of course not. Then you must know that everything I said is the truth." Hiroshi's voice turned gentle and sympathetic.

"But…"

"Just because people couldn't use you to your fullest doesn't mean you are useless. Remember that." He finished, and expected her to stop.

And it worked well, her eyes soon stopped gaining tears.

Worked as if by a charm.

"I see…T-Thank you very much…Admiral."

"There's no time to waste here. Let's go." He ordered, his old personality returned

"Hai!" Her voice became as cheerful as always.

And so they continued to walk down the road, to the building where there were people waiting for them to return.

* * *

 **Ok I may have added a bit too much young generals, but I think it's quite normal in animes and mangas. I promise I won't add more to it.**

 **So about Arthur. He is fictional, but his gentlemen manners and careful traits is inspired by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. He's a British hero known for leading the British in the battle of Waterloo against Napoleon I. His careful strategy had made him one of the greatest military commanders of the age. Look up on Wikipedia if you want to know more about him. This story's Arthur will also appear in some battles so you can expect some of his abilities in combat. I will also write more about Mai in future chapters.**

 **More chapters to come.**


	8. Chapter 8: Preemptive plan

**This chapter's title is a bit lame, since I couldn't think of any better title. If you can do better than me, you can suggest in the review.**

 **Thank you The Soviet Pilot, gvintheodore for reviewing the latest chapter.**

 **Thank you cko2 for reviewing as well. Actually, I wrote the fight scene with Hiroshi using a gun deliberately, because I don't want him to be spec op. I want his styles to be a bit brutal and such.**

 **I may have to apologize that I may not be able to update this as regular during next week and the week after due to exams. But I'll be sure to update this as regularly as possible, so stay tune.**

 **Disclaimer:** **Kancolle and all of its character belongs to its respective owners**

* * *

Chapter 8: Preemptive plan

Their plane trip back home was late in the night, and nothing special particularly happened. It was 2212 when they landed

Chinatsu, the moment of touch down, was slightly raining, but as the C130 came to a stop, water started to pour down from the sky. Soon everything within sight was only grey.

"Great timing…" Mumbled Musashi as her sister opened her parasol. Hiroshi and Musashi both walked to her simultaneously. Both sides soon realized their positions, but only looked at each other.

"Ano…I can't cover for both of you." Yamato said

"Ok Admiral, you go with her, I'll stay for a bit longer." Musashi said, taking a step back.

"No, you go with her. I'll go without one." Hiroshi took a step back as well.

"But you'll get drenched sir."

"Don't worry, I'll have to change out of this uniform anyway…Good night." He said as he left the plane and walked into the rain.

* * *

"Admir-Oh my!" Mutsu was about to salute when she noticed his state.

"Help me with this." He asked as he took off the cape.

"Shall I place it with your dirty clothes sir?" Nagato said after taking the cape from his hand

"Do it." He replied. "And raise the temperature of the air con, I'm freezing here."

Hiroshi then headed into his room, only to come out after having a nice long bath. He was now wearing his usual black naval uniform.

"Never been so cold in my life." He said, gripping his two arms.

"How's the trip sir?" Mutsu asked

"Surprisingly well. I've come to an agreement that if we give them a victory at Saoux, they'll assist us at Okinawa."

"Well? I thought you said that Saoux was a complete disaster." Said Nagato

"It is, if you fight with only ships, infantries and tanks. This time K.M.S fleets are allowed to participate." Replied Hiroshi as he sat down on his desk. "Ooyodo, send someone to Saoux and tell them to prepare for our arrival.

"Yes sir." She immediately complied

"And you may need to prepare to move your equipment. We'll temporarily move our HQ there."

"Are you considering the possibility of the Abyssals intercepting our signals, sir?" Nagato inquired

"Yes, after the fall of Taipei, I have been wondering a bit about it. But in any case, it's better to make our battles more personal."

"Then it's a lot more dangerous sir." Mutsu proclaimed

"I've brave death too often that now I don't know the definition of danger. And fate has been bringing me fortune for every risks I take, so there's no reason to continue doing it." He turned back to Ooyodo. "Get me the maps."

"Yes sir." Said Ooyodo as she took out the maps from the bookshelf and laid them out.

"This is Saoux, nearly 2000 km South East of Chinatsu. The Abyssals are gathering at the West side of the island. We'll arrive a bit earlier than our main fleet to deploy our communication equipment, on the plain of Denaix, where our troops are currently stationed." Hiroshi explained.

"Hmm…" The two battleships nodded, gesturing Hiroshi to continue

"This shall be our battleground." Hiroshi pointed at the ocean area to the west of the island. "And we'll force them to fight there."

"So you mean luring them out sir?" Asked Nagato

"Exactly. But it's easier said than done. So let's try to think from the enemy's point of view. In your opinion, what will they do to fend off such a large attack?" Hiroshi questioned, looking at his two aides expectantly

"If it's the Abyssals then they would just wait for the enemy to attack and retaliate."

"Quite right. Then let's exploit it. There's only a Battleship Summer Princess, which is capable of retaliating at a distance. There may be one or two Ru-class but it won't make much of a difference. We'll engage them at night and bombard them from afar with battleships."

"That's forcing the remainders to sail out…" Mutsu asserted.

"That's when we will make our move. As they move out, another fleet will cut right through their line of ships, dividing them into two. At the same time, our battleships will close in and annihilate the isolated section. Then after combining forces, we will pursue them and chop them to pieces."

"Sounds good, but what if they manage to rendezvous with the Summer Princess during pursuing? The Princess alone can still cause serious damage, not to mention with their underlings." Inquired Mutsu

"Then I'll personally intervene with the 12000 infantries on the island. I'll take them from the rear, enveloping them."

"Another thing, this is crucial. If we just move in with multiple fleets to attack, we'll be easily detected and countered, not to mention cutting their lines."

"Then we'll make sure they don't realize what we are doing until it is too late."

"How?"

Hiroshi smirked optimistically.

"I have just the plan."

* * *

"What is this Admiral?" Akashi asked as she and Yuubari looked at the sheet of paper Hiroshi had just given.

"It's a blueprint for a portable launch pad." Hiroshi replied. "I spent the whole night thinking all that up."

"But what is this even for anyway?" Yuubari asked, looking dazedly at the blueprint.

"For quick deployment on the battlefield. You see, it would take a longer time to reach the combat zone if we deploy from the base than from the battlefield itself. Also no one would know where we are going to go."

The two mechanics nodded their heads in acknowledgement. But they hadn't been fully convinced.

"So the mechanic of this launch pad is simply a large slingshot situated on a conventional warship." Akashi said. "Then instead of launching an entire fleet at once, we'll have to launch each by turn. It would take more time to do so."

"That's why I'm asking you. I'm not only asking you to produce it but also to improve it if possible." He replied, interesting Akashi but still hadn't quite persuaded Yuubari, mainly because she was working on a project of her own.

"Ladies, if this works out, it will be something history will talk about in centuries to come."

The two ship girls looked at each other and to their Admiral with a determined look, indicating a successful persuasion.

"Leave it to us sir."

"Very good, don't disappoint me." He said as he left.

After the visit to the workshop, Hiroshi hastily returned to the office and made several requests to the high command, knowing for sure that they would comply.

"Yes, I'm counting on it. It would determine the total outcome of the operation. And remember to bring one extra for my personal use."

"Very well sir." The man on the phone replied and hung up, leaving Hiroshi resting on the back of his chair, both satisfied and exhausted.

"Admiral, about yesterday…" Mutsu brought up the topic.

"About that, we'll see in a few days if it is possible, but I'm 98-99 percent sure that it will work."

"What is the idea sir?" Nagato asked

"A portable launch pad that can be easily installed on any types of conventional ship as long as they have enough space."

"So that is what made you stay up all night yesterday sir?" Nagato said as the three girls looked at each other and at Hiroshi.

"Yes indeed." He replied, a bit proud of himself

"And that is what made you sneak into the hangar yesterday night?" Mutsu continued.

"Yes, I have to have a look at our launch pad. And I wasn't sneaking!" His voice instantly switched to an irritated tone and with an annoyed face. Nagato was silenced immediately, while Mutsu, despite not showing it, was trying her best not to laugh.

"But the idea is pretty interesting, isn't it? I mean I couldn't have thought of that." Ooyodo complimented.

Hiroshi smirked widely at her sayings. He was clearly enjoying it.

"So what do we need to do to prepare for the operation?" Asked Nagato

"Now, nothing. Our routine will continue as it is until prototypes of the pad are built. For you all, just get us a few ships for testing purposes."

"Understood."

"Good." He remarked. "Anyway, we're done with the battle stuffs, so I'm going out for a bit. Look after my office while I'm away"

"Will do sir."

Hiroshi stood up and walked to the exit.

* * *

Hiroshi encountered someone as he left the Administration Building.

"Yo Admiral." Maya greeted him casually.

"Good afternoon Maya, and please address me in a more formal way than that." Hiroshi replied

"Sheesh, stop acting like a gentleman. By the way, here…" She handed him a sling while looking away.

"What is this…Oh? Your arm have recovered?" Inquired Hiroshi

"Yes…thanks to you." She replied with a small blush on her face.

"It's nice of you to remember but…" He said. "This isn't mine."

"What?" She made a confusing face.

"This sling isn't mine, it's from the infirmary. I just borrowed it."

Maya looked dumbfounded for a few seconds, then she suddenly snatched the sling from his hand, her face flushed beet red, this time for a different reason.

"Are you going to keep that for yourself?" Hiroshi inquired in a joking manner

"Of course not! I'll return it later." Replied Maya

"How about now? Better to do it sooner than later."

"Well…sure." She said reluctantly.

Hiroshi, ever being industrious, immediately started walking, followed closely by Maya.

"Lately, it's been damp and wet, huh. Raining like every ounce of water in the sea are being poured on us. It would be cool if it stopped, right?" Maya uttered while they were walking through a garden filled with puddles.

"Maybe for you, but not for me. I like rain." Hiroshi responded

"Why?"

"It makes everything look new. It washes away all impurities of the past." He gazed at the blooming flowers with his arms crossed behind as he said that.

"…But I think it isn't fun that way. I don't want life to be so gloomy and greyish like that." Maya said. Hiroshi just chuckled.

"I like rain for that reason as well…because it's just like me…"

"…" Maya stayed silent. Her heart somehow slowed down at his statement, her eyes turned to look at his. His sayings was confusing, but it sounded depressed and blue. Her minds were full of questions, but she was reluctant to ask for some reasons

Soon, the only sound they could hear were the sounds of footsteps. Other than that, just silence, uneasy silence.

"…Admiral, are you, perhaps, hateful toward the Abyssal?" Maya was the one who broke the silence

"Who wouldn't be?" Hiroshi answered

"But you seem to despise them a lot more than us. What seems to make you like that?"

From that point onward, he still continued to walk, but he didn't know that he was walking. Everything around him, including Maya, also disappeared from his fovea. Instead, all of his sense recreated the scenes 6 years ago. This time, he was placed inside the mansion, which was burning fiercely. And right at his feet was the girl that appeared in front of him in earlier flashback. Silky waist-length black haired, she was lying on the floor, motionless. Her figure was petite and was wearing a purple long dress that was burnt and tattered badly from the fire.

She was lying there, her eyes closed. Hiroshi couldn't really figure out if she was dead or not. But he then found himself crouching down to her, wrapping his arms around her. Hiroshi tried to move the other way, but to no avail. His body wouldn't listen to him.

But before he could pick her up, his head looked up. The roof was burning, and his eyes widened as the tie beam of the roof started to collapse due to the fire. It fell, the trajectory of the fall was directly at the position of the two. The last thing he remembered was that his right hand shot up to cover his face. Then everything turned white.

"Sir!" Maya, who had repeated the word countless time, was annoyed at his ignorance to her.

Hiroshi snapped back to reality, and turned to the irritated Heavy Cruiser next to him.

"Sorry." He spoke lowly and apologetically

Maya, unlike her usual self, was rather understanding at his response. Her voice switched to a gentler and more patient one.

"So what makes you despise those Abyssals like that?"

"…Just some bitter memories."

"Can you tell me a bit about it?"

"…I'm sorry, but no. I don't feel like talking about it."

Noticing his dodge, she can't help but be curious about it. But she couldn't bring herself to ask him that, not after seeing him like that. This also made her curious at herself, at what she had become.

Before they realized it, they had already arrived at the infirmary. After returning the sling, they left immediately, not wanting to disturb the employees there.

"You know, this is quite enjoyable." Hiroshi noted

"How come?" Maya asked

"It's peaceful. The atmosphere is relaxing, everything felt unreal. It places me in a state of peace, taking all my worries off."

"Well…I think this is high time chaos happened around here."

"Why?" He asked with curiosity

"Because peace makes people bored, and usually boredom is the main causes of havoc in Chinatsu. It only takes one or two bored ship girls to eradicate a section of the base."

"You're exaggerating. I can see no way. You think they will create some sort of bomb and raze a building to the ground?"

All of a sudden, a huge fist of orange flame punched down the wall of the building behind him. From that point where the explosion took place, black smoke rushed out almost instantly while thousands of debris and pieces of glass were flung violently everywhere. Luckily, there weren't anyone nearby that suffered from collateral damage.

"INAZUMA! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU FOR THIS!"

Or not.

 _'_ _Fuck…'_

"Told you so." Said Maya

"Stay here, and don't you dare address me without sir again." Hiroshi returned her with a serious tone as he dashed for the explosion sight.

* * *

"So what have we learned today?" Hiroshi asked the DesDiv 6, who were made to rebuild the entire section that they destroyed earlier.

"No playing with battleship ammunition…sir" They replied sheepishly in unison, after being forced to repeat the answer multiple time, with the sir at the end.

"Not just battleships', but all ammunition in general. They aren't for your imaginative exploits." He turned to the eye-patched light cruiser standing behind him. "And what have YOU learned today?"

"…Supervise them more carefully." Tenryuu replied in a similar manner to them

"And?"

"…And no violent action when disciplining them."

"Good. As this is the first time, I'll dock the cost of repair from my pay. But if this happens again…" He proceeded to project his infamous nerve-breaking aura, carving the image of the consequences deep inside their mind.

Seeing the girls being terrorized by his little lecture he just put up, he left the area and returned to his office. Sitting down on his chair, he seemed to have understood what Maya meant when saying that. Giving a sigh, he continued his work, knowing that there would be more chaos ahead of him.


	9. Chapter 9: Readied goods

**I finally managed to update. Seems like I wasn't given a proper rest after the mid-terms, but it'll be a bit less stressful for now.**

 **Thank you cko2 for the review and gvintheodore for your kind understanding. I'll try to make the time for this story, so don't worry.**

 **Disclaimer:** **All of the events, groups and characters here are all fictional and made either by me or Kadogawa Gaming. Characters that are made by the latter are to forever belong to them. This fiction is for entertainment purposes and has nothing to do with reality**

* * *

Chapter 9: Readied goods

"Fire!"

The choruses of 20.3 cm guns of the Myoukou-class eradicated all the sound nearby them as the line of Abyssal destroyers were shattered, causing the surviving enemies to rout. But immediately after that, the 4 Heavy Cruisers were met with extreme heavy fire from the nearby island.

It was a nice October morning in 2026, the location was the seabed, a few kilometres from the island of Saoux.

Far approximately 7 km from the battlefield, Admiral Hiroshi Lanne was standing on the front deck of a JMSDF's destroyer, wearing his usual uniform and a dark cape, his hand holding a binocular that was hung around his neck. His posture was firm, undaunted and seemingly unwavering by the rough sea beneath him or the sight of battlefield that was kept under his direct observation. Right behind him were a few conventional destroyers, each traveling at same speed and in tight formation, ready to spring in to battle at any moment necessary.

"The Myoukous are under heavy fire sir!" Reported Kiso from the frontline.

"Tell them to get out of there." Ordered Hiroshi. "Send the 3rd Battleship Division to combat." He turned to his aide, Nagato, who was standing behind him.

"Alright sir."

Almost instantly, one of the destroyers detached from the formation, and quickly moved to the rear position of the Myoukou-class. After 10 minutes, they stopped at the position.

Rising from the ship's stern was a large device constituted of a two round-shaped pad placed on two gutter-like runways. There were some mechanical contraptions connected to the gadget underneath it, one of which was a rotating mechanism which enabled the device to traverse in different direction. Another pad was placed behind the two round pads and the runways, where the four kanmusus of the 3rd Battleship Division was standing.

"I'll show the Admiral that I'll be the one who will win his heart! Let's go!" Kongou shouted cheerfully, with the last sentence in English, as she jumped onto the first round pad, followed by Hiei, who was on the second one.

The pad rose up a centimetre as mechanical arms rose from the beneath the device, carrying the riggings of the battleships. They were strapped, attached, and connected to their body. After finishing, the pad rose a bit more, and then it, with a force of about 6G, accelerated. As it reached the end of the runway, the pad stopped, and then inertia flung the two girls gliding a few metres above the sea level.

Kongou and Hiei touched down on the water a few seconds later, and, with the velocity they were traveling, dashed forward. Kirishima and Haruna followed soon after.

"3rd Battleship Division in position sir!" Kongou reported.

"Good, forward." Hiroshi responded

"BURNING LO-" She gave a cry, but Hiroshi hung up right before she could finish it as he knew what would happen if he didn't do so.

Shortly after the 3rd Battleship Division was deployed, the battle was at its climax as the Battleship Summer Princess joined the action, other ships also participated in the firing, going quite exactly as Hiroshi's plan to lure the fleet out. But today he was already satisfied.

"Ooyodo, send the signal of recall to all participating and reserve fleets. All fleets, with or without the condition to continue the action, are to retreat from the island." Hiroshi gave the order.

"Yes sir." She responded.

"Shouldn't we continue sir? We have quite the advantage here." Nagato said from behind.

"No, our position is already given, and our purpose here today is only to field test the launching device."

"And how about it?"

"Tell those two fleet mechanics that they will be seeing some improvement themselves." Hiroshi said in a praising manner, which Nagato smiled slightly.

* * *

After being given the order, the fleet, much to the annoyance of Kongou, fell back to a distance and retreated to Chinatsu safely sometime later. The damaged ships were sent to the infirmary and bathing area for recovery while others returned to their dorm in order not to get fatigued from the sortie. Hiroshi returned to his office, pleased with the battle result. But victory is still far from his hand, so as soon as his satisfaction ceased, his conscientious mind took place.

The first thing he did after returning was to make change to the tactical map that was laid out on the table near his desk. It showed a map of the island and several figures on it, kanmusus, Abyssals and JGSDF's troops. The Abyssals on the outer region of Saoux was removed from the map as a result of the last battle, leaving only several Abyssal figures on the map near the West side of the island.

 _'_ _Hmm…'_

Hiroshi's intellectual brain soon engulfed him, he looked over the map again and again, checking for any unexpected thing that may hinder his plan, and if so how and what to do then. Untimely execution? Under his command, no. Out of ammunition? Very unlikely. Unexpected enemy reinforcement? Reserve fleet is ready for it. Everything was seemingly perfect. The only problem left was the land infantries, whose information Hiroshi was waiting anxiously.

"Sir, I've decoded a message from Saoux. It's from Major General Yamada Senichi of the JGSDF." Ooyodo reported, pulling Hiroshi back to reality.

 _'_ _Yamada? That idiot is in charge of the infantries?'_

"What does he say?" Hiroshi inquired

"He agrees to temporarily hand you over the command of his corps. But he is worried about his troop's morale. He says they were not in a suitable condition to fight."

 _'_ _I knew it.'_ Hiroshi acknowledged the information with a sneer.

"That'll be for later. Now I want you to inform the girls who participated in today's battle and also those in this list to meet me at the briefing room 1500 this afternoon." He handed Mutsu the piece of paper which she handed to Ooyodo right afterward.

* * *

At 1500 that afternoon, as expected, all the ship girls that partook in the battle and those in the list were present at the large briefing room. On the stage was a projector screen with the map of Saoux that had already been showed beforehand. Staring at it, some of the girls already knew what was going on, while some were a bit confused.

Hiroshi, after seeing that everybody had seated, walked on stage, and everybody stood up and saluted.

"At ease." He motioned them to sit down. After a while scanning the room, seeing everything had been set up nicely, he started

"As all of you could already guess, I've called you here to brief you about the upcoming operation. Our battleground will be at the same place as this morning's battle, island Saoux. The main target will be the Battleship Summer Princess and all of the Abyssals in the region." Hiroshi showed an image of the Summer Princess on the screen. "That's the target. It hasn't appeared anywhere around here so be cautious, we don't know what it has up its sleeve."

He paused to let the words sink. It had surely stirred up some murmurs and awes inside the room.

"And because they have superiority in firepower, it will be impossible to fight them directly. So I'll go ahead and explain our plan and disposition for this battle." He clicked a button on his remote, and the screen showed several rectangular boxes and arrows.

"This is our Combined Fleet. The 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th Carrier Division will be at the two flanks, and will position themselves here, 10km from the Western coast of Saoux. The 1st, 3rd Battleship Division and the 2nd Fleet will serve as the main body of our Combined Fleet and will be in front of the carriers, while the 3rd, 5th Fleet will be the reserve fleet, remaining a few kilometres away from the battlefield…The battle will begin with the 1st and 3rd BatDiv and the carriers firing onto the shore."

"Hmm…" Murmurs and awes soon turned into ripples of excitement as Hiroshi explained his tactics

"That is the most decisive point in our operation. The bombardment, if executed well, will force their fleet to sail out of port. Which we'll then withdraw the 1st Battleship Division back to the reserve, replaced by the 3rd Fleet…And when we feel the battle is in full swing, another fleet will be deployed from our left and launch cut-in manoeuvre on the enemy line. The responsibility falls to the Mikawa Fleet. If successful, the Abyssal line facing our main body will be severely weakened, and our reserve will charge forward and roll up the rest of them. After that was done, taking the island will be an easy task."

"…But what if they decided to remain in port instead?" A question was asked from the crowd of exciting ship girls.

"They have to come out, our long range firepower is much more than theirs. If they don't come out, they'll be destroyed. In the case of the remainders retreated further onto the island at the start or after the battle, the 12000 JSDF's infantries will intervene to stall for time."

Hiroshi switched off the projector, and faced the girls.

"I used the old fleet system so you all probably know where you need to be. We will depart at 0800 the morning of the 22nd October, three days from now. I've made use of the time by conducting an extensive training course which may help you with your combat abilities." Hiroshi paused briefly and continued with a serious tone. "Remember that the course of the war will be determined by the fate of this battle, so I expect everybody will do their utmost duty."

"Roger!" Everybody shouted with enthusiasm.

"Briefing is over, you are dismissed. Remember what I said earlier, don't disappoint me." He concluded then stepped down from the stage. At his statement, the girls started to file out, leaving only a few remains.

Hiroshi noted the presence of a certain someone, so he walked to her.

"So I've fulfilled your wish earlier. I hope that you won't disappoint me when the battle comes." He said as Yamato noticed him

"Thank you sir. And yes sir, I won't disappoint you!" She replied cheerfully. Hiroshi smiled slightly.

"22nd of October? Isn't the two-day gap unnecessary sir? I believe we don't need two days to train them, the girls are mostly above combat level anyway?" It was Nagato who asked after walking to him

"I know that, but the more prepared you are, the less likely it is to fail. Besides, there is one problem that I will need to solve before the battle take place. And I'm gonna need some of you for this." He addressed the three battleships, Nagato, Mutsu, and Yamato.

"What is the problem sir?" Asked Yamato

"The land infantries, it is said that they are severely demoralized due to lack of provisions. I will have to feed them and boost their morale."

"So what exactly do we have to do there?"

"You simply provide them with food and a bit of entertainment for them. I'll issue the ingredients and you'll need to cook them. And for entertainment, you can…" He shrugged his shoulders. "probably dance for them or sing for them."

"Dance…" Yamato shrunk back a bit at the imagination of her dancing in front of over ten thousands men. Her face reddened a bit in embarrassment, even though she hadn't done it yet.

"Just do what you can, this is not a question of can you do it." Hiroshi stated as he noticed her shyness. It worked, her redness immediately disappeared and she returned to her normal self.

"I suggest Naka for entertaining, she is the best singer in Chinatsu." Mutsu said

"Really? At what extent?"

"Well I haven't heard her singing voice for ages, because the previous Admiral banned her from making any large performance, but surely she has a great voice and much confidence in her singing"

"That's nice. But will she agree to this?" Hiroshi asked

* * *

"Performance! Yes! Yes! Kya-ha! It's finally time for Naka-chan to shine!" She shouted with great excitement, to the surprise of her Admiral.

"Is that a yes?"

"Of course it's a yes! I've been waiting for so long, it's frustrating! Now's my time to shine! I'm gonna cheer everyone! My costume! My…" It appeared as if her urges for singing had been clogged for so long that it came pouring out like a heavy downpour. It would be impossible to calm her down right now, so Hiroshi waited a bit and continued.

"But you won't be singing loudly like you imagine you would be. I don't want the enemy to be alerted."

"Hehh?! Then that's not fun!" Her enthusiasm soon plummeted

"Be granted that I've given you the chance to sing."

"Uuuu~…But promise me you'll allow me to sing at the naval base if I help you!"

"Uhh…"

"Promise me!" Naka pushed on, lifting herself to near Hiroshi's neck. The Admiral was a bit surprised at her sudden outburst, but didn't flinch one bit. After a while thinking, he said.

"Fine, but as soon as you don't break any of our rules here."

"YAY!" She cheered as her enthusiasm surged again. She continued to jump around the room again and again.

"Let's get outside." Hiroshi suggested.

* * *

The two Nagato sisters returned to the Administration Building as soon as they left the Light Cruiser dorm, leaving only Hiroshi and Yamato together.

Hiroshi stood outside the dorm, his arms crossed on his chest, paying no attention to the ship girl next to him. In contrast, Yamato was more or less curious, looking at him several times.

 _'_ _He is so tall.'_ She thought. Probably nearly 1.9 metres, even taller than her, but his weight weren't directly proportional. He was only 65 kilograms, his uniform barely managed to cover his thin posture. But the one that caught most of her attentions were his two hands. His right hand was gloved, but his left was not. According to her knowledge, it wasn't any fashion trend at that time. He once said it was cool, but she thought there was something more to that, which urged her to ask him this.

"Do you always wear your glove like that?" She asked softly

Hiroshi turned to her, his arms still crossed.

"Yes"

"How long have you been doing that?"

"…I don't remember, but it was after I enlisted. I only know that my superior back then didn't like it one bit, because I refused to wear full combat gloves."

"You must be very stubborn to do that" She giggled quietly. Hiroshi gave a chuckle

"Yes, but mostly because I wanted to anger him." Hiroshi said

"Why?"

"Because I don't like being under command of anyone. I just want to work independently, not being controlled."

"I guess that is common among low-ranking soldiers…I've experienced that as well, being oppressed and controlled by previous Admirals."

"And let me guess, you weren't allowed to go out, even if it was a quick trip."

"…Hai. I stayed at Truk for the most of my career. The only time I sortied, as you know, was the retreat when the Abyssals took over Truk. From that point onward, I never sortied or even left the base." She said with a melancholic voice

"That is why I couldn't work with anyone, because things didn't go the way I wanted, and mostly ended in disaster. I eventually started to distrust my superior and worked independently…"

"…" She kept silent, listening to him with earnest

"Then I began working hard for the officer ranks, and I mean really hard for it. Sometimes I've thought I couldn't have done it. But my hard work paid off just before I lost my hope. I climbed to the rank of Lieutenant General, then Admiral. And I kindly thanked life for giving me that fortune."

Yamato was silent for a while, then said:

"But I'm alright being controlled by you…"

"What?" Hiroshi responded with confusion

"T-T-That's not what I meant! I-I meant I'm alright working under you!" She immediately corrected herself in stutters and a blush on her cheeks, which in response Hiroshi chuckled a few times in amusement

After calming himself down, Hiroshi turned to Yamato, looked straight into her eyes and said.

"…If so, then you will be useful to me in some ways."

Yamato said nothing but smiled in response. She looked down a bit, trying to hide the blush that had not yet faded from her cheeks. She was happy, genuinely, and nobody could deny it.

Hiroshi looked at his watch and said

"By 1100 the day after tomorrow, be present at the harbour. Be prepared and bring anything you deem necessary, it will be a long trip for you."

"Roger!" She replied loudly and cheerfully

Hiroshi simply nodded in acknowledgement and left. There was some arrangements to make, so he wasted no time and returned to his office. He spent all the remaining hours of the day doing it, and when the time came, he went to sleep.

* * *

 **"Tell those two fleet mechanics that they will be seeing some improvement themselves." A reference to their hobbies of improving and modernizing equipments**

 **More chapters to come. And be prepared, the chapter after the next chapter will be a battle, the word count will be long.**


	10. Chapter 10: Art of adjustment

**Chapter 10 has finally been uploaded. Final term is only 2 weeks after mid-term. Seems legit. =P**

 **Anyway, very much appreciative of cko02, gvintheodore for reviewing as always. You two have been my encouragement for the whole time. Honestly, I couldn't have thanked you more.**

 **More chapters to come. If you have any suggestions, criticisms or any feelings about this story that you want to express, please leave a review. I read all of them, especially constructive ones.**

 **Disclaimer:** **Everything in this story is fictional and has nothing to do with reality. This fiction is just for entertainment, don't take it seriously**

* * *

Chapter 10: Art of adjustments

21st of October

It was the day right before the day of battle, and the day Hiroshi came to Saoux to give out provisions for the infantries. Knowing the tendency to wake up late into noon, Hiroshi intentionally arranged the time late to 1100. But ironically…

"Fuck! I'm late!"

It was 1105, he was 5 minutes late, 10 if counting the time he spent for preparation. As he arrived at the harbour, Yamato, Mutsu, Ooyodo, Nagato and Naka were already there and, obviously, waiting for him.

"You're earlier than usual sir." Mutsu said in a sarcastic way, mocking his daily lateness.

"It's quite clear that you've taken sarcasm into your manner of speech to me." Hiroshi replied with irritation.

"I'm telling the truth, you're usually 20 to 30 minutes late. Today you're really early." She wasn't backing down. Hiroshi could feel his vein popping on his head.

"That is the end of the line. As your CO, I order you to stop this, immediately!" He responded strictly

"Geez. You should learn how to take up a joke sir."

"And you should learn how to not make a joke that angers me. Now we're truly late, come on."

They then proceeded to board a small transport ship, which had been docked there since the previous day. After getting on the ship that Hiroshi noticed that his secretary ship did not board, so he walked over to the deck and saw her still standing there.

"Are you coming?" He said to her

"No sir, I think I'm gonna stay and watch over the base. Mutsu and Ooyodo could handle it there." She replied

"Alright, I'm counting on you."

"Take care of Mutsu for me please."

Hiroshi gave a thumb up in response before turning away. Soon, the boat departed.

A few hours later, they arrived at the Eastern Coast of the island. Much different from the dark and infertile Western side that was occupied by the Abyssal, the East had more 'signs' of human life, but they weren't much, partly because the troops weren't allowed to cause any commotion, as the other side of the island were more than 2 dozens Abyssal ships ready to unleash hell on anyone dared to get close to them. But the main reason was that they were demoralized due to under-provisioned, which had thrown them into a state of near confusion. That was why they requested Hiroshi for help a few weeks ago.

The ship smoothly docked into the harbour and let the five guests onto the island. From afar, a man, dressed in an officer's uniform, ran to Hiroshi's position with a face full of relief. Hiroshi stopped walking, and the man stopped in front of him, and both gave each other a salute.

"Major General Yamada Senichi reporting for duty!"

"At ease."

"Sir, thank god you're here! We're starving to death!" He expressed.

"And whose fault is that?" Asked Hiroshi, surprising Yamada for a few seconds. He then continued with a guilty voice

"Sir, I know how busy you were when you received my request but please sympathize with me, the supply ship that I called was-"

"Sunk. I know. I already knew everything." Hiroshi finished his sentence

"Then why do you ask if you've already known everything?"

"To see if you knew your incompetence in this. And it seems that you don't."

"…Sir, look. I'm sorry for not being capable to keep the troops intact, but I can't do much he-"

"Can't do much?! Look! You have lands, crops, and manpower! Can't you at least grow some food for these soldiers?!" Hiroshi snapped angrily at Yamada, rendering him silenced and vulnerable to his guilt. The girls behind him were also surprised and a bit fearful of his fury.

Yamada, after being introduced to Hiroshi's wrath, bowed down deeply and exclaimed loudly.

"Admiral, I'm really sorry! I've seen the errors of my way! My uselessness has caused trouble for you, this is my responsibility! Please allow me to redeem myself!"

 _'…'_

"…"

"…"

For about a minute, he still remained as he had. Hiroshi's eyebrows lifted slightly. It wasn't something he would see normally see every day, or recently. It would be wrong to say that no one has ever lowered themselves that much to him, but those kinds were rare. Because of that, Hiroshi's eyes narrowed slightly and said

"Rise…and look at me."

Yamada did the exact thing Hiroshi said, the two eyes met.

Hiroshi's glare was as intense as usual, but behind those two steel cold grey eyes were a series of complex logical reasoning with the purpose of studying this man in front of him. This man, before this encounter, was labelled by Hiroshi to be the same as most generals in command, incompetence and completely lack of empathy. And his failure to come to the aids of his comrades in one previous battle sealed him that label. But somehow that didn't apply to him today.

Hiroshi continued to glare at him. Yamada returned the stare down with an unflinching look and a serious expression on his face. With every seconds that both their eyes locked onto each other, Hiroshi could feel the former impression of that man fading away, and that he was trying to carve another impression on Hiroshi's mind. It would be a rare sight if he managed to do so, but Hiroshi wasn't convinced just yet. He had to see for his own eyes what he did instead of just words

"Then show these girls the way around here, and then gather the troops at somewhere spacious."

"Yes sir!" He escorted the girls away as he finished his sayings.

* * *

Approximately 30 minutes later, nearly all of the 12000 troops at Saoux had gathered at the large camp ground. As expected, they all looked weary, soulless and ready to lend their fate to God at any moments. Their provisions all had run out, combining with not having been paid since they were stuck on the island for months. So everybody had hoped that with the arrival of Admiral Lanne, things would change, and Hiroshi knew exactly the weight of his job here.

He looked around and found a pretty high spot that he could stand there firmly. He walked up to that spot and everybody's gaze soon headed that way.

"Soldiers." He said with a loud and clear voice. "Look at all of you. You're naked, poor and miserable. For a member of the JGSDF's Elite Corp, how defeated and inglorious you are…But today and tomorrow shall be the change of everything, the chance to prove yourself worthy with the title you bear."

He paused to let the word sink and then continued

"To your right is the food court, supply, ammunition that will be the pivot for your own well-being today. Tomorrow, you will be led on a journey of your life. I will be the one who leads you, each of you, to your most fertile states, you will find there…honour, glory, fame, fortune."

Murmurs and cheers started rippling among the assembled infantry, as Hiroshi smirked.

"Can you do that?! Can you prove to me and yourself that?!" He stated loudly, touching one sensitive ego of these men – pride. In response, from the cheers from previously turned into a huge hurrah rumbling across the camp ground. With every reactions of those men positive, Hiroshi was convinced that the first part of his plan had succeeded.

"Because of the limited workforce, I will need some of you to help once you've fulfilled your own enjoyment. Be sure to live yourself today, because tomorrow will be the journey of your life. Now let the feast begin!"

Hiroshi stepped down from his position and met up with his ship girls and Yamada. There, he began his instruction.

"You make sure everything went on smoothly without any ruckus." He addressed Yamada.

"Yes sir!" He immediately complied and paced away.

"Yamato, you know your role. Don't be shy to ask for help if needed. Naka, it's not your yet so help her out."

"Roger." Yamato said

"Roger…" Naka did the same, but apathetically.

"Ooyodo, you assist them as well as soon as you're done with your work."

"Youkai." Ooyodo replied

"I'll watch for enemy's movement. I hope to see some good work ladies. Begin your work." Hiroshi ordered

"Hai!"

* * *

And so it began. The camp ground at that time was extremely crowded and lively, and filled with the divine aroma of delicious food. It wasn't surprising, however, as the cook this time was a battleship known for her full course meal. No wonder officers and soldiers at that time called her a hotel. Initially, her work was slightly overloaded due to having too much hungry stomachs to feed, but eventually, the soldiers and officers started to help. Those who can cook assisted her, while those who can't but willing to help assisted in other stuffs. Naka, even though a bit dispirited at first, was pretty helpful during the meal preparation, along with Ooyodo, after having finished her equipment set up. Everything went pretty well, much to the relief of the Major General. The 12000 hungry and demoralized men reduced little by little, and by the end of the day, laughter, smiles and praises for the cook Yamato kept resounded among the camp ground without ends, fading all the depression that lingered.

All this, Hiroshi wasn't there to experience it, but he could sense it from a distance. He was on a small hill near the camp, all alone, observing the island's West Side with a binocular. No signs of anything unusual. It seemed that despite all the things happening at the camp, the Abyssal there still didn't recognize that their enemy was right at their doorsteps. The lanky Admiral lowered his binocular with satisfaction. But he wasn't ready to leave yet.

Hiroshi turned around, so that his back was facing the slope of the hill, one of his leg bent. He pressed his arm onto the hill slope to push himself up so that he was in a sitting position, his eyes blinked up towards the sky. The sun was drowning slowly in the horizon, painting the sky an array of pink and orange while the clouds lined up in front of it to let themselves being shone on for however long they can. The pale, young moon could be seen in the opposite direction of the old, setting sun, in which Hiroshi found himself staring at it for a while. That sky, in less than 20 hours, would turn into a killing zone. And so would the island.

 _'_ _Would everything be like this forever if the war hadn't happened?'_

Hiroshi shook his head. Now is not the time for this kind of stuffs. The war had already begun 6 years ago and it's not the time to think of something that could never be realized. He thought it would be better to think ahead, to the future, of how to end it. It was easier said than done, though, and for all the time in his career, thinned Hiroshi's patience, and still continued to do so.

 _'_ _No time to worry about that.'_ Hiroshi thought to himself as he turned himself around again, but this time crouching on the slope. He didn't use his binocular this time, as he preferred to use his bare eyes. Still nothing. The other side of the island was as silent as a grave. Nothing's moving, no signs of life. It was so peaceful that hardly anyone would bother to stay at this slope while everybody else is having fun at the festivity nearby. But the thought of leaving this post and join everybody didn't cross his mind one bit, despite the lust of joy nearby.

 _Simply because he couldn't leave his post._

Hiroshi sighed, watching the sun slowly sinking down into the horizon

Suddenly, he felt a presence of someone familiar coming from behind. In response, he turned around.

It was the tall pretty auburn-haired girl that he always knew. She strolled to him, her parasol still above her, carrying with her two food plates that was placed on a small inox tray. Her walking posture was as elegant as usual, as expected of an iconic battleship of Japan. On her face was a gentle and slightly visible smile that Hiroshi could barely see, but it made her appearance more sweet-tempered.

"Are you done with your work?" She said as she walked to his right side.

"It is never done. Not until this day is over." He replied.

"You haven't eaten, have you? Here, my full course meal, just for you…" She said shyly as she placed the tray right next to him

Hiroshi looked at the food plate. It was grilled chicken with simple white rice with an addition of some pineapple slices and fresh lemon. It couldn't be called a 'full course meal' because it…simply wasn't full course. It was just one plate of food after all. It was probably her way of saying her best try in making it or that she was trying to show off a bit. But that isn't important right now.

He lifted the plate from the tray along with the spoon. Taking a spoonful of the chicken rice, he ate it.

 _"_ _Is it good, Onii-chan?"_

All of a sudden, he could feel a surge of something inside of him. Was it the tastiness of the rice, or the dull pain of memories in his chest, he couldn't distinguish between. But all he knew was that the nightmare that haunted him for 6 years had returned to haunt him again.

 _'_ _Why would I left her that day?'_ The question ran through his mind unconsciously. He couldn't stop thinking about it every time he was reminded, even though he had told himself not to afterwards. His conscience is turning on him, like an evil spirits, and even he couldn't stop it.

"Is it good?" A voice interrupted his train of thoughts. It was Yamato who pulled him out of his trauma, which he thanked quietly. Still emotional from the remembrance, he only nodded so as not to let her see his weakness.

"Really?"

He nodded again, this time a bit crookedly.

"Hey, are you alright, you look sad?" She asked with concern. It seemed that he couldn't completely hide his emotions, his eyes were getting glassy. But he didn't let it fall.

"No no, I'm fine. I'm just a bit worn out that's all." He reassured

"Are you worried about the battle?"

Hiroshi shook his head. "About everyone, and you."

"Me?"

"Yeah, of how to bring you all back safely. Winning isn't a problem, the problem is to win with everyone safe."

That could never possibly be done. Winning a battle without casualty is literally impossible, not to mention a major decisive battle. That is something that any realistic and experienced general like Hiroshi should know. But a part of him wanted it that way, his naive self. That's what makes his complexity, even he couldn't understand it.

Yamato smiled with great kindness as she said

"I'll…no, we'll be sure to return to you, so don't worry about it. It won't do anything aside from putting you on the edge of a razor."

 _'_ _Edge of a razor…'_ Hiroshi chuckled when he realized his sayings were referenced.

"…I feel much better now, thanks."

"I'm glad I could help. Now let's go. Naka-chan's show is probably starting."

"But I have to watch out for them." He said looking at the Western Side

"I'll ask someone to take over. You've done a great work for today. It's time you stretch yourself and relax."

"Hmm…Alright."

"Admiral, let's." She gave yet another smile

* * *

"Is this VIP seat?" Hiroshi asked as he looked at the few plastic chairs that were placed a little bit higher than the camp ground. VIP it may not seem for a live concert, but compared with the soldiers, whose seats were only dirt, it was VIP indeed.

"Senichi-san arranged it for you, and for us as well. He thought that he should return the favour for all of our help." Replied Yamato

 _'_ _That guy…'_ Hiroshi chuckled.

"I usually prefer to sit with them, but ok, since that guy had done us a favour."

The trio sat down on their 'VIP' seat, and waited for the show to begin, with Hiroshi praying that she won't give away their position.

"Has everybody prepared for Naka-chan!"

After a few minutes, Naka finally showed up on stage, beginning her show with her own spectacular song, followed by a loud cheer from the audience. It was a bit loud, but Hiroshi managed to calm himself down and tried to enjoy it. As if she was a hypnotizer, every single one of the audience were immediately attracted by her high-toned yet strong voice. It wasn't just her costume that gave every men on the camp ground a look out, her great voice adjustment was so skilful that she didn't need instruments. Only her voice was enough to compensate for the lack of music.

She finished her first song, then her second, then her third. And yet she didn't show any signs of fatigue. Every songs were in a style very different from each other, but she could switch and adjust herself effortlessly to each style. One after another, she never failed to keep these exhausted soldiers entertained, and it didn't take the entire show to wipe out all the exhaustion in the minds of every soldiers on the island.

"She is a really good singer, isn't she?" Yamato complemented

"She has passion for it, and she enjoys it too. A bit of a shame that she wasn't allowed to express that until now." Ooyodo seconded

Hiroshi's eyebrows lifted in concurrence. And then his lips formed an upward curve. He knew perfectly sure, at that moment, that everything went well for everyone.

"Kya-ha! Thank you for being with Naka-chan for this whole show! Now! For my last song, I want one of you to come on stage and sing with me!"

"Now this is new." Hiroshi commented, surprised with her sudden statement.

"Who wants to come?!" She yelled. Numerous hands were raised in return. Naka looked around for a while before pointing at the far end of the camp.

"Admiral! You're the chosen one!" Hiroshi's eyes widened in astonishment. Another surprising statement. He asked himself if he just raise his hand without his acknowledgement. No, he didn't do anything.

"Come on! Come on stage with me! You're the star!" She cheerfully called for him, while looking at him expectantly. She couldn't be plotting something, she probably just curious or she wanted to return the favour. Hiroshi didn't like singing, but he couldn't refuse her now, could he? It might have an adverse effect on everyone.

"Alright…" He grumbled as he walked to the stage, in everyone's clapping, mostly in envy.

As he stepped on stage, Naka immediately started singing. She intentionally chose a popular song, so that everybody else could sing with her. The first verse, second verse, and then the third verse, she sang gracefully. But Hiroshi didn't sing.

"What's wrong?" She stopped singing and asked.

"I don't know that song." He bluntly claimed. Naka's face at that moment was truly the definition of surprise.

"You don't know it?! That's the most popular song in history!"

"I'm not much into that."

"How about ' _My heart will go on'_? You must have known that song?"

Hiroshi shook his head, an answer so blunt that Naka's jaw almost dropped.

" _Crazier_ by Taylor Swift?" He shook his head again.

" _Love Story?_ " Still no.

And it went on, to the despair of the singer on stage. It ended, eventually, with both of them picking a very uncommon song that Naka had heard somewhere before.

"Alright! So let the final song of the show begin!" She shouted once more, erupting yet another cheers

She began by singing the first and second verse fluently and gracefully. It was a song for two people, either males, females or both. She sang first so that Hiroshi could get used to the song pace and rhythm. The second verse ended, followed by a pause filled with rhythmic claps, and it was Hiroshi's turn. Another surprise was unfolded…

His voice was literally the opposite of Naka's, not because he is male and she is female, because it was totally horrible. Even though he was given a few seconds to catch the rhythm, his singing was completely off-track. In other words, he was a tone-deaf, no more no less. Even _Jaian_ would have to bow to this 'show'.

"He is…" Ooyodo glasses almost broke.

'Admiral…' Yamato tried to cover her ears. Everybody else did the same, including Naka.

Luckily, the verse didn't last long, and an awkward silence followed at the end. They were speechless. Some actually clapped for him, obviously not for real.

Hiroshi was immediately aware of the situation. His own eyes hardened into a glare, and was targeted at Naka. The star of the show, a few moments ago was full of confidence, shrank back instantly at his stare. She hastily moved aside so that Hiroshi could come down. No one dared to say a word in response.

* * *

"That was the most embarrassing moments of my life." Hiroshi growled.

"It's hard to believe. You have such a clear and inspirational voice." Yamato stated

"That doesn't have anything to do with rhythm and songs. Now would you all please just forget about it? Before I have to make you forget about it" His voice got strict. The girls could only nod in compliance.

They arrived at the harbour after a short walk, where a small boat was docking.

"It's late now, so as soon as you arrived at Chinatsu, make sure to get some rest, especially you Yamato, since you'll be fighting tomorrow."

"Hmm!" Naka and Yamato nodded as they boarded. The boat soon departed.

"You as well Ooyodo. Go."

"Hai!" She saluted and then walked away.

That concluded the final activity of the day. Overall, aside from the incident at the show, everything went accordingly to what Hiroshi had planned. Now all that awaited was tomorrow's battle, the Battle of Saoux.

* * *

 **I'm sorry but my song list is very limited. Please sympathize.**


	11. Chapter 11: Mass fire

**Thank you Lt. Cmdr. Jonathan Miller, cko2, gvintheodore, and an unknown guest for reviewing chapter 10.**

 **Also one announcement to you all is that some contents of chapter 1, chapter 2 are rewritten to make my main character look less bland and more characteristic. After a while reading it back and forth, I've decided to spend some more time doing that and then upload the entire chapter 11 and the updated chapters simultaneously.**

 **The actions in this chapters are still a bit rough, I don't know. If there are anything you wish to comment about my story, just leave a review. Constructive criticisms are also very appreciated.**

 **Disclaimer: Kancolle and all its characters belong to their respective owners. Aside from these characters, all contents in this fic are fictional and has nothing to do with reality. **

* * *

Chapter 11: Mass fire

Saoux. 0800, 22nd October

That morning, Hiroshi called for a brief meeting with his Ooyodo and Yamada. He was surprisingly early for an _'oversleeper'_ like him, partly because today is the day battle commences. He wasn't wearing his IJN uniform, nor his long cape. Today he wore a normal JSDF's dark green uniform, preferring to make his appearance more appealing to soldiers in battle. Of course, an infantry assault would only be commenced when the Abyssals went defensive, but he wanted to make sure if it happened, they would be in full conditions to fight.

"I want to remind all of you to be careful with all the orders and commands over the radio. Any plan could be foiled once it is known before-hand." He stated

"Roger sir. I have set up a communication system especially for this battle. The enemy won't be able to intercept our signals." Ooyodo responded

"Alright, good. Have the combined fleet arrived at its position yet?"

"Umm…" She checked her radar. "Not yet, it appears that only the carriers are the one made it there."

"How long would it take for the rest to arrive?"

"About 10 minutes."

"Very well. Tell them to direct their fire to the harbour once they took their position."

"Yes sir." She complied.

* * *

"1st Carrier Division in position!"

"Hey! We were supposed to be there first!" Growled Zuikaku, who was traveling with her sister-ship Shoukaku, and her escort Fubuki to the designated position. But a simple task seemed to had turned into a competition between the two Divisions.

"Don't be such a sorehead. The 1st Carrier Division is obviously the better one here." Kaga's calm voice came over the radio, further irritating the young, immature carrier.

"Hmmph! Just you wait!" She scoffed childishly as she drew her bow and arrows. "You may be faster than us, but you definitely won't be stronger in air power."

"Wait, Zuikaku-san! We haven't received the order to attack yet!" Fubuki yelled out, stopping Zuikaku by mere seconds. But she was already determined to prove herself.

"It's alright, in less than 10 minutes, the battleships will come forward and attack anyway. An initial attack 10 minutes early won't make any difference." She let go of the arrow. It flew off at great velocity and then dispersed into half a dozen aircrafts. Then she did the same with another arrow, forming a double staged bombing formation.

At the same time, on the radar of Ooyodo's com system, small dots numbering to a dozen suddenly appeared lining up.

"Have they lost their mind?! I haven't given the order yet!" Hiroshi was vexed by the sudden development.

"Well the 5th Carrier Division always wanted to prove themselves superior and worthy become the backbone of the fleet, but they were surpassed by the 1st. So a little dispute can trigger a war or a competition between them." Ooyodo said.

"'Brilliant work'." Sarcasms. "Send for the rest of the carriers. Tell them to launch their planes as well. We're exposed anyway."

Ooyodo nodded firmly as she began the transmission.

Fortunately, that 10 minutes wasn't really much of an importance, the fleet arrived after a while, and soon finished assembling their position. Taking the full initiative of the long range, Hiroshi ordered all heavy ships to engage, while keeping his strong reserve ships back far enough from the others.

With its position exposed to heavy bombardment, it was quite obvious that the Abyssals needed to take actions. But the only way to deal with the bombardment was to charge straight into the enemy, exactly what Hiroshi wanted. If they remain still, they will gradually be destroyed. Retreating seemed more viable, since they only encounter 12000 infantries. But due to lack of strategic planning, they decided to sail out of port, straight into Hiroshi's trap.

By 0945, the battle started to reach its climax. Out of 50 Abyssal vessels, 43 left the harbour, mostly light, short-ranged ships, leaving behind the Battleship Summer Princess, along with 6 Re-class battleships, who stayed for long-range support.

On the radar, the dots lined up exactly as what happened on the battlefield.

"They're coming out, sir."

"Withdraw the 1st Battleship Division. Switch its position with the 3rd Fleet." Hiroshi spoke accordingly to what he had planned the day before yesterday.

"Roger!" She immediately went ahead with the order transmission, this time through radios.

* * *

"1st Battleship Division, retreat back to the reserve and wait for further orders."

"Roger." Yamato responded. "Our job here is done for now. Let's get back."

The three battleships nodded as they started to reverse back from the frontline, their guns still aimed at the enemy. Halfway to the reserve, they spotted the 3rd Fleet, who was on their way to replace them.

Ashigara, flagship of the 3rd Fleet, gave the four battleships a salute, in which Yamato replied similarly. Seeing that her salute was returned, Ashigara looked away to the direction of the front, with a determined face. She raised her right arm and swung it down, and her fleet dashed forward.

"So how do you feel Yamato? Your first sortie after a long time." Asked Nagato.

"It feels so nostalgic. I haven't fired this for so long that I could hardly remember how it felt back then." She replied, looking at her 46cm main guns

"But your skills doesn't seem to change, does it? I mean, your skills over years of inactivity was still the same, even better than before." Mutsu commented

"Probably. Thanks…" She smiled cheerfully while silently murmuring thanks to her Admiral who made this moment a reality.

"I hope you can keep this up. The battle's far from over." Nagato looked over to the front. "Doesn't look too well there. They seem to be outnumbered."

"I wonder why the Admiral wanted a field reserve fleet. I haven't seen any kind of tactics like this before in my service." Nagato inquired.

"He once ordered the fleet to charge straight into the storm. I, sometimes, can't figure out what is going on inside his head." Mutsu said

"But we don't know if it is effective or not. We only have 3 of such mobilisations since he took control of our program. One of which is for practice and field testing." Replied Yamato

"He looked confident when planning this, so I think it will be ok." Nagato stated

"It's not ok yet." Said Musashi, who was quiet for the whole time. She pointed towards the sky, where about a dozen aircrafts were making a beeline towards them.

* * *

The radar also showed the aircrafts that somehow managed to slip through the defence line.

"What in the…" Hiroshi uttered in surprise. "Did they spot our reserve's position?"

"It seems so." Ooyodo said calmly

 _'_ _Then we have to take them out quickly.'_

"Now isn't the perfect time but…" He ordered. "Perform the cut-in."

"Yes sir!" She complied.

* * *

Almost instantly, a JMSDF's destroyer could be seen detaching from the position of the reserve fleet to the right flank of the enemy, avoiding the bombing of the Abyssal aircrafts. Luckily, the Abyssals mostly attacked the reserve formation instead of the lone destroyer that are slowly bringing about the surprise but fatal blow to their fleet. Should the plan succeeded, this would be considered their huge wrongdoing.

The ship stopped at the designated location after 20 minutes, with its newly tested equipment at the ready.

"Everyone! We're the knife, the enemy is the butter! It's time we cut them to pieces! Mikawa fleet, sortie!" Choukai gave a cry as she and one other member of her team, Tenryuu, jumped onto the sortie pad.

The device proceeded the launch sequences. Equipment were strapped, launch mechanism were prepared in a quick flash. When it finished, the device paused for a few seconds.

 _Here goes,_ Choukai thought.

One moment, Choukai and Tenryuu were on the launch pad, a few seconds later, they found themselves crashing straight onto an Abyssal destroyer. Flying at breakneck speed over the surface of the ocean, Tenryuu, with her sword in front of her, sliced through an I-class destroyer, which exploded in an instant, while Choukai smashed onto a Ha-class elite. Her bulk was raised, so she was perfectly fine. The poor destroyer was not, as after being immobilized by the crash, it was then shot by Choukai's 20.3cm gun.

4 more were taken down by the deployment of the rest of the fleet. While the fleet was being deployed, those that already had encountered battle formed a line abreast formation, splitting the enemy formation into two. Shocked by the sudden turn of event, the Abyssals did not retaliate or do anything.

Realizing this golden opportunity, Hiroshi gave the order for the decisive move personally.

"All fleets, forward! Charge!"

Simultaneously, the flagships' radios of all active and reserve fleets conveyed the order.

"The Admiral just gave the order. Let's go!" Yamato ordered

"Minna! (Everyone!). Victory in sight! Charge!" Ashigara shouted to her fleet.

"Tama! Forward! We'll show them the meaning of real battle!" Kiso did the same with her fleet-mate, who nodded and charged forward.

"Ahahaha~ my battle finally begins. Guys, forward!" Tatsuta laughed devilishly.

"Ei ei ohhhh!" Followed by the iconic battle-cry of the 6th Destroyer Division.

By 1015, the so called reserve fleet no longer existed, as they all had turned into active participants in the battle. The previously strong Abyssal formation was greeted by the roar of over 100 main cannons and a few hundred smaller guns; as the entire K.M.S fleet smashed into the staggering Abyssal line in a huge melee fight. As soon as the melee ensured, every theory of formations and rules of naval fighting were soon thrown out of the window. The only thing mattered in their minds right now were staying alive and killing as many as they can. Those with great close combat skills like Nagato or Tatsuta went for their specialties while those more favourable with guns stayed behind far enough to use their guns as effectively as possible. The carriers played a different role, trying to regain air superiority from the 6 confused Re-class.

The sudden reversal caused the enemy so much mischief that worked in Hiroshi's favour. The group of Abyssals that got caught in between hastily formed defence position, but many were sank before they could accomplish it. The number of casualties among the Abyssals escalated quickly, from just a few to a dozen, then 2 dozens. Air superiority was regained by 1045, and by this time, the remaining 7 ships decided to come out to stabilize the situation, with the Battleship Princess attacking at the combined fleet's right flank with 2 other Re-classes. The light Abyssal ships that survived the cut-in tried to reform and combine with the Battleship Princess

Everything failed: Before the Battleship Princess could do any significant damage to the K.M.S fleet, the Abyssal formations were scattered, throwing them into a rout. By 1200, having realized that everything was lost, the Battleship Princess ordered a withdrawal.

* * *

"They're retreating!" Atago reported

"That's right! Run you cowardly creatures!" Maya taunted as the girls started cheering and embracing each other. They were victorious against a force that had given them so many defeats before, a feeling that they hadn't felt for a long time before, it was such a good moment for them.

However, it seemed that they had forgotten one last order that was briefed by Hiroshi before the battle.

"What the hell are they doing?! Pursue them!" Hiroshi angrily yelled out from his command post.

"All fleets, start your pursuit, now! Start your pursuit!" Ooyodo ordered.

It was that moment when they were reminded. All flagships then conveyed the order, but it was a little bit too late: the Abyssals was already out of range for most ships. As they reached the Western harbour of Saoux, ships started to beach themselves, and went further inland, hoping to reach the other side of the island.

"Sir, the Abyssals had reached the harbour and are heading to your position." Yamato radioed the command post, with an anxious voice.

"I know that! I'm not blind!" His anger hadn't died down yet. "Continue your pursue to deep inside the island!" He hung up impolitely.

Turning to Yamada, who was by his side the whole battle, Hiroshi asked.

"Tell me briefly, what equipment were you provided?"

"Aside from our service equipment, not much I'm afraid. We only have 2 Type 10 tanks and a few howitzers." He replied

"Personal anti-tank guns?"

"Yes, there are some."

"Good, have them prepared immediately. Conceal them in the treeline in front of our base and set them in direct fire position."

"Direct fire? Those howitzers aren't designed for direct firing sir." Yamada questioned.

"Then design something to that you can set them in direct fire position. And make it quick. The enemy is coming." Hiroshi gave a serious reply, as he left the command post with haste.

And thus began one of the greatest infantry assault of the age.

* * *

At 1210, the remaining Abyssal vessels, nearly 2 dozens, that managed to get on shore had pushed onto the centre of the island, and was retreating quickly towards Hiroshi's position, unaware that they were heading straight into 12000 Elite Infantries of the JMSDF. By 1215, they arrived at the large plain of Denaix. The only thing stood between the camp and the oncoming Abyssals were 1200 metres of muddy fields.

"Assembly complete sir!" One soldier of the Elite Corp shouted out to Hiroshi as the last artillery pieces were perfectly assembled into position. The tanks were sandbagged, camouflaged and engines on standby. The remaining infantries were also ready to spring into action. It was a perfect ambush formation, and the bait is looming for the tread.

Armed with only his T/2 Contender, Hiroshi gestured the infantries to get prepared. He crouched firmly in front of an artillery battery, as calm, as unmoved, as if he had never known fear before in his life. He would not accept being inside a tank, nor staying behind anyone. In battles, he never hid behind air-conditioned offices or inside bunkers when he had the condition to go to the frontline. It would be unfair for those fighting for his cause, as they are the one putting their life on the line. That is his ideal.

As the enemy draw near, he stood up upright, undauntedly, with his eyes locked onto the approaching enemy. Without hesitation, he gave a loud and clear shout as his hand pointed straight forward

"FIRE!"

All sounds that was heard a second ago was immediately obliterated by the deafening sound of artilleries, tanks and rockets erupting simultaneously, followed by endless peppering noise of gunfire. Noticing that not everyone had fired, he shouted again.

"FIRE!"

This time, all remaining explosive weapons were unloaded of ammunitions. The approaching Abyssals were seen stopping in surprise before being either burst apart or covered with a screen of dirt. Huge artillery shells rained down onto them, greatly ploughing the grounds that were once used for farming. The things left behind afterwards were a smoke screen, pieces of metals and, mostly, Abyssal fleshes on the ground.

The artilleries stopped firing for a moment to reload, but gunfire from the personal weapons of soldiers still persisted. The smoke eventually cleared, revealing the Battleship Princess, along with the surviving Re-classes that had just arrived, their main guns at the ready. It was their counter-attack.

Instantly, one howitzer was destroyed completely. A group of unlucky soldiers were blasted into the air and landed nearby, motionless. Another salvo was fired, one shell slammed into a machine gun nest, killing everyone in it, while another one hit a tank, but fortunately ricocheted off of it. After the big guns were blazed, the machine guns from light-ships started to spray. Soldiers started to scatter into sandbags, behind tanks, artilleries or anything they could take cover behind, hoping that they would not fall victims to those bullets.

Then the guns were reloaded, ready for another round.

"Punish them! Fire!"

The process repeated, clips unloaded, reloaded then fired. Light-armoured Abyssals were gradually be crushed by the artilleries and anti-tank weapons, but those with heavier armour still managed to hold their grounds without much damage. Their return fire were sometimes fatal as they could destroy anything these soldiers possessed in just seconds. But the infantries' objective was to hold out until the kanmusus arrived, so what mattered the most was time.

After a period of time that felt like eternity to the fighting soldiers, some Abyssals then turned around, following a few cannon roars. It was the signal of the K.M.S's arrival, the signal of final victory. The enemy is caught in between now, like a prisoner in the guillotine. And it's time to bring down the blade.

"Push forward!" Shouted Hiroshi as the infantries formation started to move up. The kanmusus also advanced onto the Abyssal, slowly but squeezing them to death. No one, retaliated or not, were spared from the onslaught. Many who broke formation and tried to run away in different direction were killed right at the moment they were discovered. It was a killing ground, there were no escape.

Bodies of Abyssals started to build up, filling the plain, until there is only one left: The Battleship Summer Princess.

She was confused, staggered, unable to comprehend what just happened around her. The firing then ceased, and the lone survivor of the Abyssal fleet found herself completely surrounded by over 10000 guns all pointed at her. Turning around several times, she was getting desperate. The moment she tried to dash away would be the moment her life was forced out of her miserable body of hers. The same could be said if she tried to retaliate. There was very few choices for her.

Hiroshi's Corp and the kanmusus were closing in. She needs to decide quickly, either to surrender to them, or die. The Abyssal Law Code said that every Abyssals must fight until their last breath, no surrenders are accepted. That's what her comrades had accomplished, fighting until their deaths, and so should she do the same.

But was it worthy if she did it?

She wanted to live, that's all. She wanted to see Destroyer Princess once again. She wanted to return back to the inner most depth of the ocean, to where she had lived for so long. She didn't care about being treated like an outlaw, nor being exiled from those Abyssals. She just wanted to live, wanted to return home safely.

She didn't have a choice. Having decided her fate, she slowly raised her two hands in surrender, hoping for the best for her.

However, such miracles didn't happen.

"Position."

The infantries crouched down to the command and the tanks started moving. They knew what was coming. Their guns slowly aimed for her small silhouette. The Battleship couldn't believe the things happening in front of her eyes, nor could the ship girls behind her. They were making her death more painful. They were burying her hope under the darkish brown muddy dirt of the Denaix plain, along with her comrades.

As things were ready, the Princess was seen plunging into the formation in a desperate attempt. That was the last sight of her. Hiroshi then ordered the merciless final command of the battle.

"Fire."


	12. Chapter 12: Aftermath

**Welcome readers, to possibly the shortest chapter in the story. It's just the aftermaths of the battle, and some further details to add to the storyline. It's not anything specially interesting, but for further chapters, it is recommended to skim through this chapter.**

 **Thank you cko2, Lt. Cmdr. Jonathan Miller and Hanatsuki Yuki for reviewing chapter 11**

 **Disclaimer** **: Kancolle and all of its characters belong to their respective owners. Aside from these characters, all contents in this fic are fictional and has nothing to do with reality**

* * *

Chapter 12: Aftermath

2200, 22nd of October.

Eastern Saoux.

The sun had already sunk into the endless horizon, and the luminescence of the moon and myriad stars took their place. Without any clouds blocking, the moon shone its subtle and illusionary lights onto the island, trying to settle down and ease the souls of those who lost their lives in the battle that took place just a few hours ago, as well as those who were alive but hurt.

Then, a chilly wind blew around the island, one among few winds that managed to blow since the beginning of the day. But unfortunately, that breeze didn't last long, and the trees, without anything to sway its leaves around, stopped dead. 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes…nothing changed; the calm night continued its windless state.

Inside the camp cabin, sat a blank Hiroshi behind the desk, who somehow managed to survive through the battle almost unscathed. He was only struck in his left forehead by a piece of metal blown from the artillery pieces next to him that was destroyed during the fighting. It wasn't anything serious, so it was bandaged afterwards. But his mind was all but unscathed.

A knock could be heard on the cabin's door.

"Come in." Hiroshi spoke apathetically.

The door slowly opened, and Yamato popped her head in, her hand holding several sheets of paper

"Good evening Admiral…" She said, noticing his detached state.

"Good evening. What brings you to this place at all times?" He asked as he tilted his head up to look at her.

"Yamada-san asked me to give you the reports…Also, I wanted to check up on you."

Hiroshi's eyebrows lifted.

"A check-up?" He chuckled inaudibly. "Well, it wouldn't hurt. Come in."

Yamato came in, wearing her usual attire, walked over to his desk and handed him some sheets of paper that was stapled together.

"Here…the dead list for the battle…" She said.

Hiroshi took the paper, his hand shaking slightly. His head was going crazy as he heard the context. Turning it around, he quickly read through the sheets, looking for the number that was the most important to him.

 _'_ _397 dead, 512 wounded.'_

He sighed briefly. Most of him were relieved. A casualty of nearly 1000 in 12000 soldiers was staggeringly low for such a fight. At least now he had something to convince these brasses of his long-term plans. But still someone died, and his work wasn't done just yet.

"Hmm." He put down the paper on his desk and said. "Can you pass me that stack of paper over there?"

"Sure." She walked over to the stack of paper and carried it over to him.

"Thank you." He replied and started to write. Quickly, after every seven to ten seconds, he passed the paper he was writing on aside and wrote on another one. Then another, another, he continued, with his focal countenance to each of the paper.

The battleship couldn't hide her curiosity, as she ambled to his side. The first thing she noticed was his handwriting. It was surprisingly and cursively beautiful for someone living in a world where people mostly use computers to write stuffs. It looked as if it was typed, only more artistic and more elegant than any computers can write. The amazing thing was that in spite of his calligraphy handwritings, his pace of writing was still very decent.

Then she started to notice the context of the papers. 'Death certificate' it said. And it was a form that was written pre-emptively and then mass-printed. All Hiroshi had to do was to fill in the blanks and then passed onto the family of those who passed away.

Looking at the stack of paper (about a hundred), Yamato felt sorrowful. For the dead soldiers, and for her Admiral. They didn't want themselves to die at this place, and he obviously couldn't enjoy any of these. It was just like the old days.

Then Yamato remembered. Remembered the April 1945 again. How 3000 of her crews died in her explosion. How her fleet-mate also sank in that battle with her. How their lives were also lost. And also, how her Admiral at that time went down with her. They didn't deserve to die like that, and so did the soldiers, officers and generals who died during the war, then and now. Seeing them passing away like that, erupted a sense of sorrow.

Speaking of her Admiral…

"What are you looking at?" Asked Hiroshi, who was still focusing on writing.

"Huh? Oh nothing, really. I'm just curious at what you are writing. But how do you know I'm looking at you?" Yamato replied, having been pulled down to earth

"Sixth sense." He said frankly. Yamato giggled slightly in response.

"I'm not joking. Everybody has it, only that they are not as sharp as mine."

"But they are definitely sharper than your handwriting." She joked.

"Are you making fun of it?" But it seemed that he couldn't understand it.

"No no, your handwriting is really beautiful. I'm honest!" Yamato tried to clear up the misunderstanding

Hiroshi stopped the writing and looked at her, in a way as unfathomable as his mind, for a moment, then continued writing, in silence. It was kind of awkward for the battleship, but at least it stopped her train of thoughts then.

"Oh, I forgot. Here, a telegram from Vaillant-san." She handed him another paper

"Arthur?" Hiroshi questioned. "That guy sure is quick to update. The report was only sent for a few hours."

He proceeded to read the telegram. It was written informally, considering who he was writing to

 _22_ _nd_ _of October_

 _Dear Hiroshi._

 _I suppose that you are well. I'm not wrong, am I?_

 _Anyway, I must admit, that was great handiwork. It was only a week since the arrangement and you've already completed it. I couldn't expect anything less. And the good thing is that the high commands are considering your proposal right now. From my judgement, it is very likely that they will go through with it, since the news of your victory came as much as a shock to them as it was to me. The decision will come anytime soon._

 _You may have to choose those who will cooperate with you, or maybe even troops as well. Who knows? On my part, I recommend getting to know and along with Hayashi from Asuka. Believe me, once you get acquainted with her, she'll be your most valuable ally (just like me). And I think you should get some friends for yourself as well. Don't worry about approaching her, she is a friendly person, although a little bit of a romanticist. She is also a girl with a sense of admiration towards those who are better than her, and have great passion for self-improvement, just like you, so it won't be difficult for the two of you to find a common interest. Trust me, it's worth it._

 _I look forward to be working with you soon (actually, no. Please don't pick me, I'm kind of having a leisure time here)._

 _Your friend and comrade_

 _Arthur Vaillant_

 _P.S: To the Abyssals, if you somehow managed to intercept this telegram, you won't be getting anything valuable from this. I can only say to you that you'll soon be dead! DEAD!_

Hiroshi folded the letter in half, letting out a chuckle, his mouth curled into an amusing smile.

* * *

Outside, the wearied soldiers were resting besides their campfire. Some had already fallen asleep. The same could be said for the ship girls, although with slightly better accommodation. Some others were taking care of their injured comrades. The rest were either cooking their night snack to celebrate, or paying tributes to the dead. They were all exhausted after the event of the day.

But as Hiroshi stepped out of his camp cabin, their attention started to turn towards the young Admiral. At first, it was just a few who were nearby, but then spread out until nearly the entire camp ground knew his presence.

"The men were moved by your bravery for risking your life like an ordinary soldier. They regard you as "the lion of JSDF"…no offence or anything sir." Yamada explained, which Hiroshi nodded in acknowledgement.

"Long live general Lanne!" One soldier shouted, and the large crowd of over 10000 started buzzling with excitement as they followed suit, each tossing their guns or helmet. The army of soldiers became more and more uproarious and made way with every step he took, and the lionizing cheers resounded endlessly around the camp ground. There was no need to hold back, the enemy was already destroyed. All it remained were the triumphant army of the JGSDF, and the mastermind of the Battle of Saoux, who made that army truly lived up to its title.

Hiroshi, having been escorted among the cheering crowd, stepped up to the spot where he made the speech the day before. Wearing a genuinely satisfied smile, he raised his right index finger in the air, as a symbol of authority, as the soldiers' cries got more deafening.

* * *

Four days later, the telegram from Yokosuka arrived at Chinatsu. As promised, resources were concentrated onto the Okinawa campaign, and Hiroshi was given temporary command over the army of the Pacific theatre. With around 600000 men at his disposal, Hiroshi was quick to make his first decision.

"Reconnoitre, you say?" Said Sergeant Neville, from a base in the Western Coast of Australia.

"Yes, our Admiral wanted a full overview of the situation of the Indian Ocean. He said it was crucial." Ooyodo replied

"But why do we have to help the JSDF in that? It isn't like it's our responsibility to do so."

"Our Admiral said he would send resources and provisions to supply your base. He also promised to assist the Australian Navy in their operations whenever they called, as a return favour."

Then followed a period of silence, then the Sergeant on the other side replied.

"…I'll inquire my superior about this matter. I'll call you back later." And he hung up

Ooyodo put down her headphone in exhaustion. That was the last call.

"Thanks for your effort Ooyodo. Now that our surveillance have covered almost the entire Pacific and part of the Indian and Arctic Ocean, it would be much easier from now on." Hiroshi complimented the radio-girl, making her blush.

"But there will be a lot of work to do. You've made quite a lot of promises today, sir." Nagato said

"I didn't say I'm not going to fulfil them. I'm telling you, it won't be difficult, it'll just require some efforts."

"But do we really need that much surveillances?"

"Yes. Very much needed."

"Why?"

"The Abyssals, from the beginning, knew our plans to attack Okinawa, and has been planning to counter it. By taking Taipei, they are trying to establish a stronghold blockading all trading, communication, transportation between Japan, China, Australia, America and other South East Asian countries. But after their disastrous defeat at Saoux, their occupation has lost one of its important strongpoint, with critical casualties on their side. So I suspect a mass troop mobilisation to secure their stronghold and, if possible, invade and occupy mainland Japan."

"Hmmm…" His three staffs hummed in understanding.

"It will be more work from now on, so please just bear with it for now."

"Truly resourceful, I must say sir." Mutsu complimented, in which Hiroshi smirked devilishly.

"As long as I know where those Abyssals are, they are surely to be defeated."

"But in exchange, you have to do something to help us with our work, like…umm…employ some of our girls to help out in our office." Suggested Ooyodo, idly fiddling with her headphones.

"Employ huh? Hmm…That's not a bad idea. But will anyone agree to this?"

"Many will, considering their desires to be useful to their superior." Joined Nagato, who also concurred the idea.

"But considering the pay for them, I'll dock this to our budgets. I have no intention to extend my expenditure on this. And in addition, those who are employed will also serve as my bodyguards, and operate under my direct command."

"Bodyguards?" Said the three confused girls in unison.

"It's just being my elite fleets for battle, and for accompany in expeditions. Don't think of it as anything lowly or complicated."

"Alright sir."

"Then…from now on, you three shall be part of Chinatsu's Elite Staff and members of my…Grand Bodyguards. Let's start our search for our card-carrying members."


	13. Chapter 13: For you I shall

**Welcome to chapter 13 of General. First of all, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone. Thank you all for your support of this fanfic. I couldn't have made it this far without the support from you guys. This chapter shall be my last in 2016. It should've been uploaded a bit earlier, but a sudden shift in schedule postponed the update time to today.**

 **Secondly, in this chapter, you may find my style of writing a bit different from previous chapters, focusing more when describing the emotions of characters. That is because I've done a bit of reading at school and some other works of fiction as well, and I'm trying to adopt to this new kind of writing style. Just to let you know that, if you find this kind of writing unsuited, you can leave a review, and I'll consider it.**

 **Thirdly, I would like to personally thank GULAG KULAKS, gvintheodore, goddragonking and Hanatsuki Yuki for reviewing chapter 12. I really appreciate your work.**

 **Finally, enjoy the story, and I'll look forward to posting more chapters in 2017.**

 **Disclaimer** : **This is a work of fiction. All the characters, excluding Kancolle characters, groups and facilities that appears are fictional and has nothing to do with reality or anything that exists. All Kancolle characters all belonged to their respective owners.**

* * *

Chapter 13: For you I shall.

"Mutsu, can you get us those dossiers again?" Asked Hiroshi

"Of course sir." She immediately went for it, returning a few minutes later with the stack of paper on her hands.

"We shall begin. My criteria for the Bodyguards is quite simple: dedicated and combat-experienced."

"That's a bit too much. We do have a lot that fitted one out of your two requirements, but having both is rare." Nagato commented.

"Rare…is how much?"

"About 1 or 2."

"Hmm…then it's only 'or': dedicated or combat-experienced. I prefer the dedicated one, as it is more essential."

"Then we can't miss Asashio." She searched for her profile and then handed it to Hiroshi. "She's not the best destroyer, but she is very dutiful and responsible comparing to her peers."

"Agreed. She will certainly be of help." Mutsu seconded.

"I have nothing to say, so, it's Asashio then." Hiroshi placed her profile to the side. "Then what about Maya. She seemed capable."

"But she is quite a hot-head and impatient, so I wonder if she will work well here."

"It's fine, I can contain that attitude. The only thing that I wished for is her being able to comprehend, or at least forgive me for my incomprehensible self."

"Ok, then she will be put in the recommendations." Nagato looked for her dossier and placed it on top of Asashio's

A few more was surveyed in silence, and Ooyodo found two that she favours.

"How about these two?" She handed Hiroshi Ise and Hyuuga's dossiers. He scanned it for a minute, then said.

"Well, they are indeed experienced, and somewhat militaristic in their way of thinking, but haven't they already got a position as lecturers and instructors for the new kanmusus? I think their position is fine for now."

"I picked those two because I valued their strategical thinking. Having more minds can devise more well-planned strategy for our war against the Abyssals."

"We already have enough heads for that, and it was a little bit too many. It only take one person to mastermind such a plan, and that's me." He said in a boasting way.

"Are you so sure about its effectiveness?" Nagato questioned.

"And are you complaining me about it?" Hiroshi reproached her

"Well…no. It's up to you sir."

Hiroshi handed it back as Ooyodo placed it at the bottom of her list.

He quickly surveyed several following profiles. Nothing really interested him, so he gave them to his secretary ship girl so that she could check them out.

Then he saw one that triggered his curiosity

 _'_ _Battleship Yamato.'_

He skimmed through the profile with interest, from her armaments to her commission day, both during World War II and during the Abyssal War. It actually impressed him just by looking at the status and equipment she bore. And then he looked at her contribution.

 _'_ _Philippine Sea, Leyte Gulf, Ten-Go. Retreat from Truk Lagoon. That was indeed too few.'_ He thought. Although Yamato already confessed this to him, he still felt sorry for her. She wasn't used to her fullest, the only thing she did well was to impress people.

And she wasn't just any normal ships. From what he knew, she was kind, hard-working, powerful, and most of all, determined. If it were him, she would be his trump card of his army, and he would treasure her, and use her to her full potential

That was such a waste of a great battleship.

 _People just told me that I'm a piece of scrap, a waste of resources!_

Hiroshi suddenly remembered the day he spent with her at Yokosuka. That line she cried out in tears. At that moment, he only understood what she meant, but didn't know how painful she felt when being faced with those words. And he felt that his consolidation, although worked, wasn't enough. He had to do something more than that.

"Admiral." He was pulled back to Earth as his senses told him that something was waving in front of him.

"Yes…" He looked up and saw that it was Mutsu.

"What happened to you, sir? It wasn't like you at all to space out like that?"

Hiroshi then gave Yamato's profile to Mutsu.

"One slot for her. No questioning."

The three girls looked at the profile and then at him simultaneously. They obviously couldn't 'no questioning' him.

* * *

Haguro was busy sweeping the front garden of the special dorm when Hiroshi arrived.

"G-Good afternoon, Commander!" She greeted.

"Good afternoon Haguro, is Yamato here?" Hiroshi replied

"Yes sir. She's inside."

"Thank you." He nodded his head in gratefulness as he walked in.

Inside, the dorm was as clean as a whistle, not to be out of expectations of an accommodation of a housewifely ship girl. As Hiroshi paced into the dorm, a couple of the dorm's residence saluted as they saw him, and he could only nod to acknowledge it.

He looked around for the tall white silhouette of the battleship. She was inside the kitchen, his 20/10 vision told him so. So he headed there. There were no doors so he came in right away.

"Hey Yamato, I ha…" Before Hiroshi could finish his words, he was halted at his tracks by a soft melodic voice. There was no one else around him that could do that and letting him hear it, aside from the girl standing ahead of him.

That's right. She was humming. But Hiroshi didn't see that. His vision was failing him. In front of him was the black-haired 12-year old girl that appeared several times in his previous vision. This time, she was in a normal white blouse and blue jeans, with straps from her apron visible from behind. She was also humming something while cooking in the stove. From time to time, he could hear his name being mentioned in her voices.

 _'_ _Yuina…'_

He recognized the view. It was the kitchen of his old house. And the person in front of him…

His chest hurt. Or his heart, he didn't know. Both had been tainted with scars already. His hand clenched to his torso, with his gaze not lifting off of her.

She was still there. He wished it would be forever.

Then he asked himself again.

 _'_ _Why did I leave that day?'_

It was his fault. That's what he thought. He was the reason for everything, every torment inside of him. And there was nothing he could do now. It already happened.

It is irreversible.

His gloved hand then shifted to his forehead. His eyebrows twitched as the girl started to turn around. His mirage began to fade. The last thing he registered of her before she vanished was her glimmering violet eyes.

"Admiral?"

Although his hallucination had already ended, he still needed a bit of time to reboot his brain. Noticing the clench of his fist on his forehead, Yamato couldn't help but be worried.

"Admiral, are you alright?" She rushed to him, abandoning the fish that was being fried on the stove.

"I'm alright. I'm just…hallucinating."

"Hallucinating?" Her eyebrows furrowed, confused by her Admiral's words.

"Yeah…you kind of reminds me of someone I knew." He tried to be normal, but his voice started to get distant.

"Really? Is…it your family?" She asked reluctantly

Hiroshi nodded involuntarily.

"Someone I believed to be deceased." And then she regretted that decision.

Her head hung low as he said that.

"I'm…sorry." She said after a period of silence, in a guilty low tone.

"You are not at fault here. Everything happened has nothing to do with you."

"But I've dug into something I shouldn't have. I-" Before she could finish her words, Hiroshi placed his index finger on her lips. Her eyes widened a bit in slight surprise.

"Don't give me that look. Taking the blame for something you can't control, doesn't make me better. It will even make me more worried about you." He gently replied as he stared straight into her eyes.

Yamato was silenced; she didn't reply whatsoever. _He was right,_ she admitted. It was because of her usual inept and soft-spoken personality that every time anyone talked about their unpleasant experience that she unconsciously uttered those words. He was right, there was nothing to apologize for.

"It's better if you try to control that." He continued, pointing at the stove behind her.

"Oh no!" Yamato immediately rushed to the stove. The fish that she left earlier was beginning to burn. But thankfully, she managed to flip it over, and the rest of the special dorm's residence avoided an appalling main course.

"Did you get it?" Hiroshi asked.

"Yes, I barely saved it. Thank you Admiral."

He sighed amusingly, along with a light smile.

"I almost forgot. There is something I need to tell you." He said.

"What is it?"

"If you want to, you can, from tomorrow, work for me at my office…as my secretary ship."

Her eyes widened. She couldn't believe what she just heard.

"Did you just…what about Nagato-san? Isn't she…"

"She's still my secretary. I just need a few more ships to work with for the upcoming busy days. And also to accompany me in my expeditions whenever I needed and serve as my personal combat fleet." He explained.

"But why do you…" She was still confused

"Because you are more capable than anyone I know."

She was silenced, again. Upon hearing this new information, she was deeply touched to the heart.

 _More capable than anyone I know._ The word echoed repeatedly in her. The Admiral trusted her.

Her eyes glassed again, this time for a different reason. She looked at Hiroshi in the kindest way possible, and said.

"Thank you for the opportunity, Admiral. I'll do my best!"

"Be at my office tomorrow for some instruction along with the other. I'll not be there to personally do that so Nagato shall do that in my place."

"Hmm!" She nodded cheerfully, her smile did not waver

Hiroshi couldn't be more satisfied than that.

* * *

27th October, 2026.

Asuka Naval Base

"So how should I address you? Hayashi-san for formality? Commander for our respect for each individual ranks? Or Mai for a friendly relationship?"

"I prefer the third option. But most people wouldn't accept that." Said the waist-length black-haired girl standing next to a tea table, preparing two cups of tea for her guest.

"I accept that. It breaks the barriers between humans with each other." Replied Hiroshi as he walked further into the office room.

"But usually it's quite impolite, so people don't like it."

"I don't care what people think about me, because most of them are wrong."

Mai giggled lightly in response as she moved closer to him and handed him a tea cup.

The Commanding Officer of Asuka had a more casual appearance in front of Hiroshi. Her hair was waist-length, black and somewhat natural with her arched side-lock that extended down to her two cheeks and fringe bangs. She had an uneven tooth that exposed partially whenever she smiled. She was dressed in her long customized naval dress that consisted of two flaps hanging loosely in the back and the front, worn over silk light violet pants. The upper top of her dress was decorated with epaulettes and medals. It was a weird design, but surprisingly fitted her slim posture.

"I've heard a lot about you, and have been looking forward to meeting you for so long." She gestured Hiroshi to have a seat, straightened her dress and sat down herself.

"And what is your first impression?" Asked Hiroshi as he had a sip of tea

"A brave and serious commander, especially with that extravagant uniform. You look like a 19th century Marshal."

"This?" He pointed at his uniform. "It's just the IJN uniform, with slight modification, nothing else."

"Yeah, but it gives me the impression that you are not afraid of anything."

"It is true that…Well, nearly true. But one thing." He said. "Stupidity."

"Then you must have a hard time living with that." She joked, and for the first time, Hiroshi got that joke.

"I heard from Arthur that you are planning something…big." Mai continued.

Hiroshi nodded.

"And you need my help for that?"

"Arthur entrusted me that your skills in military organisation would benefit my plans greatly."

"Yes, but I want to know for what causes you carry out this kind of plan. Glory…or money?" She stared into his eyes for a while, trying to read out the answers from him. But to no avail.

He waited in silence, until she finish her mind reading. His answer wasn't within the expectations from a young upcoming Admiral like him

"Peace."

Mai lifted both her eyebrows in surprise. But afterwards she smiled.

"Ok. I will help you."

"That was fast." Hiroshi commented.

"Simply because I see in you the light that I was waiting for."

"Then I hope I can see in you mine." Hiroshi chuckled in joke of her romantic statement as both share a friendly smile.

Then a sound came from the direction of the door, drawing the attention of both commanders.

"Come in!" Mai ordered.

The door swung open, and came in two young girls, both with blonde hair. One had her hair tied up in a twin tail while the other let it down naturally. They both wore similar clothes, grey, black and red uniform, with the Iron Cross of the Wehrmacht Kriegsmarine embodied on.

"Madam. The 1st Fleet has returned from their expedition." The taller girl reported.

"Thank you Bismarck. Now come here you two, I'll introduce you." Mai gestured the two girls to come close. Then she turned to Hiroshi

"These are my two secretary ships, Bismarck and Prinz Eugen. They are both used to be ships of the German Navy. You two, this is Admiral Hiroshi Lanne of Chinatsu Naval Base."

Both girls saluted at once, Bismarck a bit suspicious, while Prinz Eugen remained cheerful and excited in her salute.

"At ease you two." He gestured, then the two girls exited the room.

He turned to Mai.

"They are German ships, right? I thought foreign ships should take command from commanders that originate from their respective countries."

"…Well, no. Only in their bases in their countries. The girls in my base, all from European countries, were sent to us as a result of our collaboration with our European allies to pacify the situation in the Pacific. But they couldn't afford to send out their commanders as their situation is also as tense as us."

"And so they choose you as local commander."

"Hmm." She nodded. "But anyway, what are your plans? Can I hear it?"

"Well, I intend to take back Okinawa to break their stranglehold, but the details hasn't been planned out yet, because I suspect something big is going on."

"Big? Like?"

"A large mobilisation."

Mai's eyebrows furrowed, slightly confused.

"Well, after Saoux, I very much suspect the Abyssal to try and regain their stronghold in the Pacific. But as their casualties are unexpectedly high while ours are low, they may need more forces. And there are several regions where they can get it, like the Arctic or the Indian Ocean."

"Hmm. It makes sense."

"For my staff system, it would be small. You, me and Arthur shall be the main players. The others are simply officers commanding their individual miniature army. I don't need any more idiots in my command."

"But if there really is a huge mobilisation, you may have to fight on different fronts. Are you ready for that?" Mai inquired, in which Hiroshi nodded with great confidence.

"Even better than that. I'm confident that I can destroy this 'Abyssal coalition' within 1 month."

"How assertive. Well…" She raised her cup. "To our success." Then both sipped their teas, satisfied with the result of the meeting.

* * *

6 days later.

Ooyodo was writing on a piece of paper with great speed while having one of her hand clenched tightly on the headphone. After a moment, she took it off, threw it down to the table and quickly went to her Admiral's desk.

"Sir, the final recon report has arrived."

"What does it say?" Asked Hiroshi with furrowed eyebrows.

"It's to be expected, sir."


	14. Chapter 14: La grande armee

**Chapter 14 is out guys, 1st in 2017. 2 weeks before holiday are two weeks of works and tests, so please understand that for me.**

 **The title of this chapter came up while I was doing my thesis about the Napoleonic War. And the dub of the K.M.S fleet is also a mirror of the rename of the French forces into the Grand Army in 1805. Sorry about a bit of time rushing, because I find nothing else to write about those days.**

 **Many thanks to cko02 for the review. Yamato actually used a mix of both third and first person, but personally I prefer first person, so yeah. Hope this solves your wonderings.**

 **More chapters to come**

 **Disclaimer** : **This is a work of fiction. All the characters, excluding Kancolle characters, groups and facilities that appears are fictional and has nothing to do with reality or anything that exists. All Kancolle characters all belonged to their respective owners.**

* * *

Chapter 14: La grande armee

"Expected? You mean that the Abyssals are coming in from the Bering Sea.'

Ooyodo nodded firmly.

"Be more specific."

"There are over 300 vessels gathering at the West and South-Western coast of Alaska, according to an American report, preparing to attack from the North.

 _'_ _How come the Bering Sea has a lot more Abyssals than other regions?'_

Hiroshi unfolded the map of the Pacific on a table and marked all the spots that was reported. Other regions also spotted Abyssals gatherings, with 168 vessels moving from the Indian Ocean to South China Sea, 121 ships from the South Pacific, moving North West. Together, they formed a hammer that will strike into the 'Pacific' anvil at the right time, regaining its dominating presence.

"Sir, it is best that we do not attack Okinawa right now as there are still about 75 ships gathering there, and with their mass gathering in other regions, it looks sound to focus on dealing with them first." His secretary ship, Nagato, presented her own opinion, only to see Hiroshi ignoring it completely.

He only have fleets numbering to only half of the enemies', 50% of which were conventional warships, which he considered not versatile enough. The overall position he was in wasn't good either, having to fight on multiple fronts. From the outsides, the Abyssals were forming a plan not just to destroy the K.M.S's forces, but also to cause more pressure to the defending side.

But to no avail.

That will never work on him. He was never the type to be over-odd, or intimidated.

But his biggest challenge was still there.

Hiroshi bit his lower lip, giving his brain a boost.

"Admiral?"

That question did not snap him back to Earth like usual. He was completely gone from this world. Some of his new staffs started to get anxious, but for Nagato, Mutsu and Ooyodo, this situation was not foreign.

"This guy is strange. He spaced out almost every time." Maya said, irritated.

"That's what he is about. He's complex that way. But he'll come back soon, with a plan that we could never have thought of." Replied Ooyodo.

The two Nagato-class eased a concurring smile. The rest, however, did not find that reassuring, or even find it more anxious.

Despite the commotions going on near him, Hiroshi's concentration didn't flinch. He remembered perfectly clearly the promises that he made. And he wasn't the type to break those promises.

 _'_ _Would it be better to do this or that?'_ He asked himself countless times. To him, a swift manoeuvre with good strategic purpose and execution, could destroy even the strongest opponent, but in exchange, it came with a cost of extreme risk. Going for Nagato's plan was safer, but at the cost of high casualties. Numbers weren't on his side, so it also had its risk, albeit lesser than his.

He cannot choose heedlessly. This dilemma not only determines his fate, but the fate of Japan, or even humanity itself. If he fails right here, he will break the promises he made with those people, with Mai, with Kuro, with everyone. He will have committed into that mistake once more.

That is unacceptable.

For a while, he remained still. Then his hands clenched…slammed onto the table, drawing everyone's attention.

There is no time to be indecisive.

"Have you come up with a plan yet, sir?" Nagato asked

 _'_ _It has to work…it will work.'_

"Yes, and it's better than yours in many ways."

That's what he thought, with unwavering conviction.

"Then let's hear it."

Hiroshi came to the map. He picked up a blue marker, then drew a parabolic arrow, from Chinatsu, to Mariana Islands, Solomon, back to North East New Guinea, Leyte Gulf, then all the way to Okinawa as its ending point.

"That shall be our route for this campaign." He said, not without putting question marks on the girls.

"Ok…so you mean sending all of our fleets away from our objective, and then come back?" Mutsu inquired.

"Allow me to clarify." Hiroshi began. "We will not send all out, we will send only our main fighting forces out. We'll leave at once, 700 km a day, in complete secrecy, so that we'll meet the South Pacific Abyssal group at Solomon in 12 days."

"12 days? Are you serious?" Maya seemed unconvinced.

"We only need fuels for the conventional vessels. The kanmusus will lodge on the destroyers, only carrying enough for a few battles. We won't stop anywhere, our expedition shall be constant. I want drums, a lot of provisions to fire the men's courage."

"They won't lack courage if you are with them." Nagato beamed as she referred to Saoux after the battle.

"…I would not be with them if I want this plan to succeed." Hiroshi replied frankly, which amazed even his three honorary staffs.

"I must give them the impression that the bulk of our forces is still concentrating on Okinawa. If I'm seen nearby, the enemy won't imagine that my army's on their way to meet them. It is the key to our victory, because they do not know to what we are doing, and the extent of our capabilities. That is why, from now on, our K.M.S fleet will be renamed as…the Prime Fleet."

* * *

And thus it began: Okinawa campaign. Hiroshi's fleets, consisted of 70 ships, including 48 kanmusus, started the spectacular sail. Began sortieing on 2nd of November at Chinatsu, the Prime Fleet sailed with great speed, arriving at Iwo Jima on the 4th. The fleet was then split into 8 miniature fleets, 10 when joined with two fleets from Asuka on the 7th of November, each consisting of 12 more kanmusus. Together, in just less than 10 days, the combined fleet had encountered the Abyssals at Solomon, 2 days earlier than the planned time.

"What is the fleet's status?" Asked Hiroshi, from his headquarter in Chinatsu.

"Our girls are on standby, ready for action. But the JMSDF's vessels aren't. They are exhausted after the forced sailing." Answered Ooyodo.

"Let them off for now. They haven't arrived just yet. Tell them to settle in somewhere, and wait patiently."

"Yes sir."

A few hours passed without any notable incident. And it was Asashio, his new Guard, who broke the silence by her sudden entrance.

"Commander. Admiral Arthur is here."

"He is? Show him in." Replied Hiroshi.

She bowed as a response and then headed out. A few minutes later, Arthur walked in, wearing the usual black British Royal Navy uniform, with a white peaked cap on his light brown hair, his crimson eyes hinting irritations

"Tell me Hiroshi, is your base always like this?" He whined.

"What happened?"

"The brown haired girl who often mix English words with Japanese. You knew her, yes?"

"Well…" Hiroshi nodded groggily with a sinking feeling as he recognized who was being described

"She came out of nowhere and jumped right onto me while screaming "Burning Love!". And heck, she wasn't done with her pestering until I arrived at your office. I bet she's waiting for me outside." He proceeded with his face strained.

With his curiosity triggered, Hiroshi walked to the window of the office and looked down.

He was right.

"That girl must have been lonely recently. She likes us Admirals, but I didn't give her the attention she wanted."

"And that's why?" Arthur inquired again. Hiroshi nodded.

After a period of silence, he continued

"You know, if you have your time, you ought to consider returning that feelings of hers towards you."

"I don't have that intention." Hiroshi replied straightforwardly.

"I mean, you should get someone that you can share the burdens of yours. You've shouldered too many now."

He was right this time as well.

Hiroshi shook his head slowly, his red eyes became distant.

"I'm not shouldering anything. And if I do, it's just a few ordinary stuffs. It's nothing really."

 _'_ _Why must I denied that?'_ He involuntarily asked, and felt remorseful.

"Well, it's your own choice whether to do it or not. I can't tell you what to do. But bear in mind that you can't live life by yourself…You can't bear all the burdens on your own, unless you have someone by your side, to share parts of it with you." Arthur said.

 _'_ _Share parts of it.'_

Such flowery words. It was to be expected anyway. He was always like this.

"We do not meet today for that. Our main topic of discussion should be military tactics, not personal advices." Hiroshi tried to change the topic

"Then what do you want to say? I'm all ears."

"That I'll need you to commandeer my 4th Fleet, along with your Air Fleet to join me at the coast of Noman Island. I've already sent a few men there to set up a temporary harbour for our staying."

"Are we attacking?" Arthur asked, with his look and voice suddenly steeled.

"Not just yet. Not until my main fleet arrived, which is estimated in about a week. The only reason I wanted us to be there early is to give the enemy the impression that we're there."

"What do you mean by that? Aren't we going to attack afterwards?"

"Yes, and they knew that from the beginning. However, they do not know that my main fleet is now at Solomon, and are preparing to crush their reinforcements."

"Solomon?" Arthur widened his eyes in surprise. "How come I didn't know that?"

"You wouldn't be surprised. I did not report anything about it to the high command. I camouflaged my ships so that they are undetected. I used flags as a method of communication between ships instead of radios. I also kept my ships going constantly without stopping on the way. So you can imagine how my fleet got there in just over 1 week."

"1 week?!" He couldn't believe what he just heard.

"They will never anticipate that. The moment they realized that their Solomon Naval Fleet are crushed will be the moment that they counter-attack us at Noman. And when they do, I will turn my fleet around and advance in a similar fashion back and launch a counter-counter-attack on their fleet. That would bring about a near total destruction to the advancing Abyssal Fleet." Hiroshi went on explaining, in which Arthur nodded in astonishment.

"Extraordinary!" He gave a thumb up. "But I have only 1 question. Are you confident that this plan would go as you think it is?"

"No." Hiroshi shook his head and replied almost instantly, and in a way that somehow felt both contrasting and concurring with his usual confidence, which Arthur couldn't help but be confused.

"No plans survives the battle without being shaped. Mine is not an exception. But I can make reality goes as close as possible with the plan. And by using you today, I will be one step closer to that."

Arthur was silenced. His astonishment was beyond anything describable. Hiroshi had planned everything, from A to Z, all without flaws, and if there were flaws, they were invisible to him, and to the enemy.

'As expected of my former subordinate.' He eventually gave his usual care-free smile.

"Then I have nothing else to complain about."

"So it's settled?" Hiroshi asked

"Yes, I'll start my mobilisation."

"When will you be ready?"

"In about…3 days. But first I'll have to meet those girls of yours, so that I can have a better understanding of them."

"Deal."

"Then…" Arthur needn't finish his sentence as Hiroshi already knew what he is going to say.

Hiroshi opened his office door, and stood right beside it.

"Let's go."

* * *

Hiroshi guided his friend to the destroyer dorm, where the 6th Destroyer Division were residing. As the 4th Fleet is composed of those 4 little but energetic angels, Tenryuu and Tatsuta usually had to keep them company so that they would not cause any ruckus around the base, like the incident in which they destroyed a section of a dorm, and were made to repair them. Hopefully this time, they are there.

After the duo passed through the front door, they headed upstairs. On the hall, the two light cruiser were standing near a door, each wielding their own individual's weapon.

"Why are they holding weapons here?" Arthur whispered behind as the two continued walking

"Their accessories. Now follow my lead, and do nothing. Let me do the talking."

Arthur gave a silent nod as they approached the two cruisers.

The Tenryuu-class soon noticed their Admiral. They stopped their chatting and turned to salute him.

"At ease." Hiroshi gestured. "First of all, I have something to tell you two. Here is Vice-Admiral Arthur of the British Royal Navy. He shall be the commander of the 4th Fleet, for now. That means that you are now under his command, until further orders."

The two girls looked behind him, at Arthur. In response, he tipped his hat and bowed slightly, a normal gesture of greetings. Then they bowed to return it.

"So what do we have to do?" Tenryuu asked, gazing at her new commander.

"Well, you, along with the 6th Destroyer Division will go with my Air Fleet to Noman Island. That's…" Arthur paused, trying to remember its location

"Approximately 600km from Okinawa, the target of our campaign." Hiroshi helped him

"Yes, and it's that simple. That is that for now, further orders shall be given depending on how the situation develops."

The two girls nodded. These girls were simple, it didn't take much effort to tell them.

"Oh, and may I meet the 6th Destroyer Division? I think it would be necessary if we tell them this ourselves." Arthur asked

"Of course sir, they are inside." Tatsuta replied, her finger pointed at one of the doors. It was decorated with paintings and childish drawings, with names of the four destroyers encrypted on one of them. It was an obvious sign that it was their room.

She proceeded to knock on the door.

"Who is it?" Came an energetic voice from the inside.

"It's the Admiral. He wants to see you four."

"Ehh?!" The voice suddenly became a squeak. Then came a mixture of 4 different voices, all showing surprises and flusters.

 _'_ _Just what the heck are they doing?'_ Hiroshi thought to himself as he and Arthur waited.

After a few minutes, the door slowly opened, and the four little girls lined up in an arch, with their arms cupped near their chins, with gazes of anxiety on their cute, deep, little eyes.

Hiroshi slowly walked to the door, and into their room.

A rather childish room, Hiroshi assessed. But it fitted their attitude. It gave him a familiar sense, but he quickly dismissed it before his mind was drifted away.

"Are these…" The first thing Arthur said upon entering the room was.

"Yes, the 6th Destroyer girls." Replied Hiroshi as he gazed their way. It wasn't anything, but they misinterpreted it as a glare. The four destroyers immediately scrambled everywhere around the room, clumsily trying to find something to hide behind, and peered over the top at the two Admirals.

"Seems like you haven't cured that bad habit of yours. That kind of gaze will give you a lot of bad impressions, I can tell you." Arthur stated.

"For sure that most of the officers in the JSDF don't have a good impression on me, not just because of my gaze. I'm used to that already. Besides, I don't need incompetent officers for my campaign." Hiroshi retaliated stubbornly.

"But at least, for your soldiers, you should consider my advice." He simply said as he walked slowly to the hiding destroyers

With a soft, gentle voice, he called.

"Come here, I won't hurt you."

They, initially, still refused to leave their place. But Arthur simply stretched one his hand out, his eyes deepened with expectances that they would accept him.

He waited patiently. 1 minute, 2 minutes, he still persisted, to the irritation of the impatient Hiroshi, but he still went on.

5 minutes passed by, Hibiki ascended from her hiding spot, and slowly trotted to his side. Arthur smiled kindly as he patted her head.

"Good job." She blushed sheepishly at his praises. He then looked up to the rest of the destroyers, as if he had won their trust.

One by one, Akatsuki, Ikazuchi and then finally Inazuma went to his side. His grin turned to a satisfied one, and he patted and shuffled their hairs as they cuddled cutely around him.

"You see?" Arthur turned to Hiroshi, who was watching the scene the whole time.

"Yeess, I see that." Hiroshi replied apathetically. He knew this too well.

"I am like that at times, but not always."

"Then make it always." Arthur responded. "It's not difficult."

"You knew me long enough Arthur. You should know the complexity of how my mind works. Now forget it, it's time you decide." Hiroshi switched to the main topic. "Whether to take them with you to your Air Fleet, or leave them here."

"What do you think?" Arthur turned the decision to the destroyers. The four girls were startled, then formed a semi-circle, away from the two Admirals, followed by ripple of whispers and murmurs in a cute childish tone. Then they both turned towards Arthur. Hibiki, representing the four, spoke out in a low soft tone.

"Admiral…" She paused, not having known how to address him

"Vaillant." Arthur instructed.

"Ah, Admiral Vaillant-san. We thank you for your opportunity, but…" She walked to her real Admiral. "We want to stay here."

Arthur's eyes widened slightly, but not in surprise. The three other nodded in agreement. It seemed that they still love their Admiral.

"Your choice. I'm glad you all agreed with it." Arthur patted her head again, in which she blushed again, and rose up to his feet.

"Well, then…" Hiroshi asked. He needn't finish his question.

"3 days." Arthur responded, knowing fully-well what Hiroshi was implying

"Noman Island."

"See you there." Simultaneously said the two.

* * *

 **Fleets are assembling. What will happen after that? Find out more in chapter 15.**


	15. Chapter 15: No man's island

**Hello everyone! Welcome to the 15th chapter of General. I know that I've kept you waiting because of my laziness, for that I apologize.**

 **The story has been progressing I felt a bit fast, and I feel that the genre of this story is more like a romantic adventure, more than romantic drama. Actually I wanted all three into the genre but I felt adventure sounds more than drama. Well, I know, not that many romance, but I promise, this is a romantic story.**

 **We're kind of moving onto the hottest part of the story where lots of battles are about to happen. And believe me, if you do research into military history, you may find some of it quite similar to the oncoming battles that I am going to write about. Also, fair warning, chapter 16 may be a bit longer than other chapters**

 **Anyway, enjoy, and I hope to see some positive reviews and feedback from all of you.**

 **Special thanks to Lt. Cmdr. Jonathan Miller, cko2, GULAG KULAKS for reviewing chapter 14.**

 **Disclaimer: Kancolle doesn't belong to me, as you know it. All characters from Kancolle are all borrowed, credits should be given to their respective owners. Also, every events, OC characters and facilities mentioned here has completely no relation to real life whatsoever.**

* * *

Chapter 15: No man's island

It was already settled: the expedition to Noman's island. 3 days from the day of the arrangement shall be the time they move out, to become a decoy to the Abyssals. But the night before departure, Hiroshi decided to go against his outset.

At the special dorm, 0000.

Knock knock.

"Huh? Who is it?" Yamato spoke groggily as she rose up from her bed, wearing her night clothes.

"It's me." Replied a familiar male's voice. That man was none other than the base's CO

She quietly slipped from her bed, trying not to wake her younger sister, Musashi, who was sleeping soundly next to her. With a yawn, she opened the door, her hands rubbing her sleepy brown eyes.

"Admiral? You're still awake? It's 0000, aren't you tired one bit?" She asked.

"No, I'm alright. Night shift is my specialty." Hiroshi replied.

"But shouldn't you sleep early? Tomorrow's our departure to Noman. And you aren't…really punctual." She said, trying not to upset him with his bad habit.

"Well, there's a change of plan here. We're leaving now." He replied as he took a step inside.

"Now? In the middle of the night?" She said surprised, with her eyes widened, all the sleepiness on it vanished in an instant. Noticing how loud she just spoke, she immediately lowered her volume.

"Yes. Now. To prevent the case if the Abyssals attempt to stop us from coming."

"What do you mean?"

"They may know what we're up to, so I'll early our departure time. This is to ensure all carries out well."

"You calculated everything?" She said, with slight astonishment.

"I tried to. It's a large-scale campaign after all. I can't afford to lose here."

"Get ready, quickly. I've already woken up the rest of the girls. They're at the port now."

"Hai. Just a minute." She said as she went into the bathroom, returning with her usual outfit.

"Ready?" He asked, in which she nodded. "Then let's go."

* * *

0800

Noman's Island was in sight of the decoy fleet. From afar, it looked nothing different from a tortoise's black shell with spikes on top of it. The morning wind, though cool, was painfully dry and dusty, along with a stench of death in it. The Abyssals had ripped apart this island's civilisation before being forced out of there. The only inhabitants remained were nature's best children: animals and trees. They were unlucky, however, to live under the skies harbouring a sense of destruction.

The fleet, composed of 3 columns of conventional destroyers, along with 18 ships, Hiroshi's Grand Bodyguards included, of the Prime Fleet, closed in on the port. After docking, the destroyers let their passengers down.

"Welcome to Noman." Hiroshi said as he stepped his foot down onto the solid concrete block of the port.

As the rest of his Elite Staff stepped out one by one, they couldn't resist covering their noses at the odour of the atmosphere, both by the extremely humid morning weather and the stink of desolation in this place. This experience was still exotic to them, but to their Admiral, it was already too familiar.

"This…" Maya said behind her cupped hands. "…truly is 'No Man's' island."

"Oh this is nothing. If you think this is bad, this isn't. There is more out there even worse." Hiroshi replied.

"The rooms are over there. Be prepared, as soon as you all finish settling in, we'll go deeper into the island. They said to be an abandoned radar station up that mountain. If we can reactivate it, we can have a wonderful survey of our surrounding areas. Ooyodo, this is your chance to prove your worthiness."

"Yes sir." She nodded, with determination showing clearly on her face. Seeing her like this, Hiroshi flashed a contenting half-smile as he walked onward.

Hiroshi entered a cabin to the far end of the base, built especially for him to work and live in in the next few days. It was a small hut made of planks and branches in order to save resources. The room only sized to about a small bedroom, furnished by a small mattress, a wooden desk, a chair and a clock. As simple as Hiroshi would wanted.

"You don't seem to carry much." Remarked Yamato as she watched him opening his backpack.

"I don't intend to carry much. Just personal accessories." Replied Hiroshi. "But what are you doing here now? Why didn't you go and check your room?"

"I'll leave that for later. Right now I just want to check up yours."

"Remember that you'll come with me to that radar station. You better get yourself ready."

"I'm ready. I think I'll leave the unpacking for later."

"Ok fine enough. Make sure you don't forget anything."

As soon as he finished unpacking, which didn't took long, Hiroshi started his preparation. He holstered two guns, a small knife and a few necessities for a jungle expedition like flashlight or compass. It was nothing much, so he didn't use his backpack. When done, he double-checked, then triple-checked, to ensure all goes well.

"I'm ready. And I figured that you are as well." Hiroshi said after finishing all his checking

"Hai." She nodded, her two hands holding her long orange parasol, which, in his view, wasn't really necessary.

"You don't seem to be ready." He remarked.

"Well because…I don't have that much stuffs anyway." Yamato said back, her voice got shyer overtime, but Hiroshi didn't notice.

"Then you don't need to come. It's not anything important anyway."

"It's ok, it's ok! I want to be of help to you."

"Then stay back and follow me closely. The jungle is not a haven."

"Roger." Yamato complied, as Hiroshi left his cabin with her.

* * *

As the radar station was located straight North, up the hill, so the expeditors didn't have to spend much time navigating. Along their way, there weren't many creatures in their way, despite daytimes. And those encountered were slightly hostile, and greeted the group suspiciously. Nobody likes the sight of that. The jungles were wild, but not prosperous. If they had a soul like these ship girls, they would cry and despair, as if to find someone to listen to them.

"Are we there yet?" Ooyodo asked. "I'm exhausted."

"Come here and have a look." Hiroshi called. "If you see that tower over there, you'll know it soon enough."

The tower was small from their point of observation, but not too tiny.

"We are only half-way?!" She cried out as her shoulders dropped. "Let's just take a break shall we?"

"Already? We can still go on, can't we?"

"It's you that can go on, sir, not someone who is carrying loads of equipment on her back." Spoke Nagato.

Resting would cause delay. And experiencing delays would not be pleasant for his impatient side. But Nagato wasn't lying. Ooyodo was carrying her stuffs two times as large as her own body weight. He couldn't leave her behind and go ahead. If she can't go on, he can't.

 _'_ _Well…'_

"Fine, we'll take a quick break."

"Yatta! (Yay!)" They cheered, and they find themselves a rock to sit on. Hiroshi found and sat down on one also, in slight dissatisfaction.

And the word 'quick' here, he didn't expect it to be extended to nearly an hour. They set up a small fire so that Yamato could cook some soup for a snack, which Hiroshi at first was reluctant to let them do it, since it may cause too much attention. But after he was offered a bowl, he kept silent and enjoy it. Good food did seem to calm him down.

"Your surname is Lanne, isn't it?"

Yamato asked while Hiroshi was having a spoonful of the soup. He lifted his eyes from the bowl with his usual serious countenance.

"Yes."

"That's quite a strange surname. What does it mean?"

"…Nothing." He replied bluntly.

"'Nothing'. Does it mean 'nothing' or…" She tilted her head slightly in confusion.

"No. Basically it doesn't mean anything. Lanne is just my ancestry name, that's all."

"Where does your ancestors come from, anyway?" It was Mutsu who spoke this time.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Just curious, sir."

Hiroshi at first wasn't really happy with what she said, but he tried to place it out of his mind. He thought to himself that he might be overthinking.

"As much as I remember, my ancestors were nobles living in Paris, France many generations ago. In the early 19th century, they were conscripted into the French Army. They served them for a while."

"So your forebears used to serve in the military?"

Hiroshi nodded, in which the girls' sparkling eyes started to grow.

"I've been wondering it for the whole time. You look just like someone who is born for military life." Maya joined in, as her curiosity was also drawn to his backgrounds.

"But that is the only time. In 1817, they immigrated to Japan and settled in Osaka, and then to a small island called Taishu. They did not serve or has any other relations to the military again, until now."

"Taishu? I've never heard of it. Where is it?" Asked Yamato.

"Off the coast of Mie prefecture…But don't bother looking for it." He answered, pausing slightly at one point, and continued with a low voice.

"Why?"

They just hit a mark that they would regret this later.

"…Because it's on the map anymore."

He could feel his chest ache.

"It's gone. All of it."

His eyes started to blur.

"Then I had to move again, to mainland. And because I couldn't find a living, I joined the military. That's the only reason I came to such a life."

Why was he saying everything out like this? It wasn't like him at all.

"Admiral…"

Was that he needed sympathy or anything? That he needed someone to confide in, like Yamato.

No way!

He quickly denied this tiny excuses. Everything that already happened, happened. There was no point dwelling up the past.

It only showed weaknesses.

He clenched his gloved hand.

It had nothing to affect the future. What's ahead, is not relevant to the past.

"So…your family?" The girls were shocked, and deeply regretted letting their curiosity take over them.

Stop telling them stuff!

He had to stop himself. No more unnecessary revelation.

"Enough of this dark talk. We better get going. I don't want any more delays." Hiroshi urged as he stood up from the rock.

"But sir, I can't get going yet. I don't have the strength and motivation to carry on the trip just yet." Ooyodo whined, her back slumped on a tree.

"You've rested for an hour already." Complained Hiroshi.

"Sir, I think you should help her with her equipment. You're the only man here carrying almost nothing." It was now Mutsu who defended Ooyodo.

"Yeah, you're a man, aren't you?" Maya joined in.

The sudden reversal made Hiroshi annoyed, his eyebrows furrowed. But he had to admit that their reasoning was right, there was no way he could go against them now.

"Fine. Give me some of that." Hiroshi resigned, and she smiled lightly. He reached out his hand to take her bag.

"I'm only doing this because I felt obligated to. Don't get the wr-"

Then all of a sudden, his face immediately tensed. His skin turned slightly pale. His left hand gradually retracted and reached for his waist as his crimson eyes abruptly turned to a steeled, blood-curdling glare that aimed right at the radio ship-girl, as if there were a demon right in front of him.

Faced with the full force of Hiroshi's intimidating stare, Ooyodo was in a mixture of both surprises and horrors.

"Admiral, what are you-"

In a split second, his hand shot up, holding his T/2 pistol.

Locked, loaded, and cleared.

By instinct, the girls covered their eyes, or look away

 _BOOM!_

And all was silence.

For a while.

That moment, everyone on sight had thought that Ooyodo had been shot. But the truth was that she was nearly. The bullet landed just a few centimetres above the head of the frightened ship girl, punching a hole through the tree behind her.

And a snake.

After having been shot, the snake fell down to her head, and then to the ground, motionless. Believing that it was dead, his face soon returned to normal, and he lowered his gun

He picked up the dead snake at its throat and examined it carefully.

"This is poisonous." He mumbled. "You're lucky that I noticed." Then threw the snake down to the ground.

"T-T-Thank you…sir." She stuttered as she tried to recover from the fear earlier.

"Now let's go. We don't have time." He immediately departed, without the bag that they requested him to carry.

"W-Wait!"

* * *

30 minutes later.

Hiroshi stopped at the amazing monumental radar tower that soared high above the thick jungle trees. Monumental, but abandoned. This was once a state-of-the-art broadcasting station that was built for the purpose of early warnings against Abyssal attacks. But unfortunately, and ironically, the early assault of the Abyssals against the island meant that island had to be abandoned. So therefore, the radio station was left, thankfully without much damage, derelict, until now.

"Ladies…we're here. If we can get this done, then over 500 kilometres of sea, we look down on them." Hiroshi spoke out, to the one following behind him. As they stare in awe to the skyscraping tower, the Admiral had already trotted to the entrance to investigate.

The door to the building opened, slowly because of the rust in the hinge. Dusts were floating around in the air and laying centimetres on the room's furniture, most of which were surprisingly undamaged but some were rotten considerably. The wallpapers of the room had been peeled roughly, windows were cracked after trying their best to withstand the force of nature. On the wall, the clock's hand struck at four thirty. Who knows how long it had been striking at that hour.

Hiroshi took a quick but careful step inside. He walked to the other side of the room, to the door leading to another. The room on the other side were pretty much in the same condition, with more furniture and equipment, most of them had already broken down.

Judging by the room's layout, he knew this was the place.

"Ooyodo, come here. This is it." He called out, as the radio-girl walked sluggishly into the room.

"Ugh!" She squeaked as she placed down the heavy bag from her shoulder.

"Everything is so rusty and…dusty. I don't know if it will work."

"Oh, it will work. It will definitely work. Because you are doing it." Hiroshi said, causing her face to redden like roses. "You better start. That computer system over there might be viable."

"Alright sir, I will bring this radio station back to life." She said as her determination soared high. Hiroshi only flashed a small smile as he walked away.

* * *

With his subordinate working in her 100% efficiency, Hiroshi's confidence was at its peak. He went to the top of the building for some fresh air.

He went up there, but without anything to keep him occupied, he soon got bored. And so he took out his pistol that he just used earlier and fondled with it, until a certain voice someone broke his loop of boredom.

"Yo! Admiral!"

 _'_ _That voice, couldn't be Yamato.'_

It couldn't be anyone that followed him to this place, except…

"Why are you ignoring me now?"

Maya.

"Because you're not addressing me the way I told you to." Hiroshi replied as she walked to his side.

"Again with the 'sir' and stuff? Can't you be more of a casual Admiral?" Maya said, with her eyes reflecting annoyances.

"You have to trade something in return for good administration."

"Ehh? Now you say you deal with the base well. More like you are intimidating them into orders." She mocked.

"That's good administration. Besides, in reality, I'm not even trying to intimidate them. They're just afraid of my presence from the beginning." He returned with a rather straightforward reply

"The destroyers? Well…yeah. When I asked them about you, they were…kind of scared."

"You see? Well I don't really care what they think about me. If they are more in favour of a sociable Admiral, then that's their problem. My only job here is to bring them what they desired the most."

Maya chuckled, as she watched her Admiral gazing up at the sky with a thoughtful expression. She knew what their most desired wish was.

"But at least, you are quite dependable."

"I am?" He asked, in disbelief.

"Don't you remember? You once treated my arm when I had a training accident. And earlier when you shot that snake. Maybe in your case you couldn't see it, but for us, it was a sign of hope that we were waiting for."

 _'_ _Hope…'_

"We are just ship girls, reborn to fight the Abyssal threats. For us, our existence is only to fight them. Other than that, we don't really know what to do. That's why, with someone to depend on like you, we will be more confident in both our missions, and our daily lives, because we know who will be the one to guide us."

That was quite a speech that she gave. And hope…

What fancy word that she used.

 _'_ _Hope, huh?'_

But Hiroshi wasn't a stranger to this kind of thing.

"I know." He answered her, simply.

He won't let her down.

And she smiled, a kind one that was rarely seen of her.

The two shared a moment of silence, on top of a building that had withstood many hours of that.

* * *

About an hour had passed, the two had already come down to where Ooyodo was working tirelessly to activate the radar tower.

"Alright, that might work." She exclaimed as she finished the last touch.

"Might? You can't be sure?" Questioned Hiroshi.

"Yeah. The machinery has deteriorated significantly, so I can only let Jesus take the wheel now."

Hiroshi sighed a little.

"Then I pray for the best."

Ooyodo then pressed the start button, but her radar screen were still black.

A minute passed by in anxiety, with Hiroshi's impatience wearing thin extremely quickly. But thankfully, it was quickly satisfied, as the machine suddenly booted. A line showing the company's name that made the equipment appeared on its monitor, indicating that it had worked.

"Whew. I knew it would work." Hiroshi heaved a sigh of relief, as Ooyodo blushed again.

"Now let's see what this baby can do." Said Mutsu excitedly, as the eyes of everyone were glued to the screen.

And then after the radar signal was received.

"Oh no."


	16. Chapter 16: You can be as mad (x)

**Welcome to chapter 16. 5000 words long!**

 **And I wrote this in 2 days straight!**

 **I was very enthusiastic when I write battle scenes, although I still feel it's a little bit rough. Don't know why.**

 **Anyway, prepare yourself. And the title is a reference to an Eric Roth's quote. The full (well not really accurate) quote is near the end of the chapter.**

 **Also if you can guess which battle I'm basing this one on, I bet you're a great enthusiast in history.**

 **Thank you cko2 for the review. Well honestly, chapter 15 was an expedition to the radar station, there was the MC and his Guards only. The members are the six that was mentioned in earlier chapters. And sorry for confusing radio and radar, didn't really notice it there.**

 **Enjoy, and be sure to review if you want to praise or criticize my story. Constructive criticism are openly welcomed**

 **Disclaimer: Again, all Kancolle characters belong to their respective owners. And nothing in this fic are related to real life, only referencing.**

* * *

Chapter 16: You can be as mad (x)

"Admiral, are you seeing what I'm seeing?!" Cried Ooyodo, who was slightly panicked from looking at her radar monitor

"Yes, I can see it. I'm not blind." On the contrary, Hiroshi appeared quite calm.

"How can you stay calm at this?! There are at least 40 Abyssals coming at us!"

"Keep yourself together. Ooyodo, your equipment has the trajectory prediction right?"

"Yes sir. What about it?"

"Track and update all past locations of the Abyssals. Then predict its movements."

Ooyodo immediately complied, to the point of not even bother responding to Hiroshi.

"Done it. It is processing now…it's current course is…wait!" The shock that came to her this time was as shocking as the last time.

"It's not heading for us?!" Nagato shouted out in surprises as well.

The computer has predicted that the route of the Abyssals is avoiding the island, instead of coming straight into it.

"But why? Do they even know that we are here?"

"It appears not. I think they knew we were coming, but didn't know that we had already arrived this morning." Hiroshi presented, trying to explain the situation

"So they think that we are coming now and are trying to counter that? I don't think they are that stupid."

"Either way, we are in luck. Ooyodo, do whatever necessary to maintain the communication line. We'll organize our small fleet and flank them from behind."

"Yes sir!"

"Anyway, we have to get down from this hill, quick."

Hiroshi immediately ran from the radar station, following the old path, as fast as he could. Right behind him were his Guards, except for Ooyodo, who decided to stay at the station to handle the communication work.

"40 vessels…This may be a prepared attack." Stated Nagato, in which Hiroshi turned his head back while still running.

"Maybe, but the question that runs through my mind is why didn't they attack the island instead?"

"That's…yeah." Mutsu suddenly realized the conflict in its movement.

"This may be the result of something else. But what?"

* * *

1515, near Noman Island.

A fleet of 1 aircraft carrier as flagship, 1 light carrier, 3 light cruisers and 10 destroyers were moving with moderate speed across the water as the watcher of the flagship noticed the skies getting darker.

"Sir, over there. There must be a gale incoming."

The Admiral, or Vice-Admiral, didn't respond. He stood there and examined the sky carefully

"That's not a gale. That's the Abyssals."

That Vice-Admiral was none other than Arthur Vaillant of the British Royal Navy.

"Wait, what?!" The watcher was rather shocked, as he was new to the job. "How do you know?!"

"It's their signature. If you've confronted them often enough, you'll notice." Arthur replied. "Now, pay close attention to it. Report to me as often as possible about the number of vessels ahead."

"Yes sir."

A few minutes later, he reported.

"Sir, there are 8 Abyssal vessels incoming."

"Very well."

Then a few minutes later.

"Sir, there are 19 Abyssal vessels incoming."

"I heard you."

Then another few minutes.

"Sir there are 23 Abyssal vessels incoming."

"Alright."

Then another.

"Sir, there are 30 Abyssal vessels incoming."

"Alright stop it. If there are more than 60, we'll disengage. Numbers don't matter as long as they remain in those range. We'll go with the usual setting when outnumbered" Arthur dismissed him, as he commanded him along with his staff over the radio.

"Yes sir!"

He immediately darted away, back to his post

'You know this right? Hiroshi?' Arthur thought in mind.

"Are we going to fight them sir?" Another middle-aged voice came from his radio. It was his co-commander, the one on the light carrier.

He was Lord William Horatus, known for displaying conspicuous courage during the Burma campaign. Despite having had his arm amputated and not securing a decisive victory for the Royal Navy, he was still promoted to Rear-Admiral, and Arthur laid an eye on him. Now that his was replaced with a bionic one, he was ready to set sail again.

"Yes, it seems so."

"That's right! With our…no your great strategy, we'll eat them up pieces by pieces!" He cried, with great enthusiasts.

"Well yeah, but we are still at a great disadvantage there. We might still lose if we are not careful enough."

"What are you talking about? You are 'The Great Wall' here. I heard that you have never lost one single battle that you are on the defensive side. So there's no way those wicked beasts can defeat you here."

"Yeah, but still, defeat can still occur to even the best general. You cannot underestimate the strength of the enemy yet, or ever." Arthur sighed. "It will be better if Hiroshi arrive on time."

"Hiroshi?" William inquired. "Isn't he the Japanese commander that just destroyed the Abyssal fleet at Saoux?"

"Yes, that's him." Arthur replied, in which William found it confusing.

"Are you serious, sir? He's unpredictable and disobedient. Why even trust him?"

"Lord William." Arthur scolded him low-toned. "Do you remember why I laid my eyes on you after your defeat that led to you losing your arm?"

"Is it because I retreated at the right time?"

"Precisely. You did that to preserve the lives of soldiers. That's the most honourable thing to do…He's the same. He may be disobedient sometimes, but he would never waste the lives of soldiers in battle. That's the reason why I accepted him as not just my former-subordinate, but also my personal friend."

'Personal friend.' He was quite astonished to hear that. Being Arthur's personal friend. That's quite an achievement. Knowing that, he had no choice but to acknowledge something in Hiroshi

"Sir, the Abyssals are launching their planes. 30 minutes to bombing range." The watcher rushed to him again.

"Relax. We can launch all of ours in 20 minutes. In the meantime…" Arthur picked up his radio transmitter. "Air-defense formation! Now!"

* * *

The Noman port was unusually buzzing, as sounds of alarms started roaring to every soldiers and workers there.

 _'She has already connected to the alarm system?'_ Hiroshi gave his admiration secretly to the radio-girl up there.

Then he noticed his command ship preparing to leave. Wasting no time, he rushed there, and headed inside, followed by his Guards.

"Fleet status?!" He shouted on the radio as soon as he got on board.

"Ready sir! JMSDF's Surface Fleet 1, ready for action!" The captain represented the 9 destroyers reported.

"Third Torpedo Squadron, ready for departure!" Light Cruiser Sendai of the Prime Fleet also called back. That was already everyone in the fleet. Much faster than he expected.

"Alright! Depart!"

At the command, all 9 destroyers, carrying 11 kanmusus, started roaring its turbine. At 1525, the fleet had left the port, at the direction of south east, to the unsuspecting Abyssals.

"Admiral. Can you hear me?" Ooyodo had connected herself to Hiroshi's command ship.

"Yes, pretty clearly."

"Sir, I think this fight may not be ours alone. Someone else is here also."

"Someone else?"

"I've detected 15 more vessels near us. Both are launching their planes at each other. They appear to be having an early air fight before the main action."

"They have planes as well…Eh?!" That just struck a chord in his mind. He remembered

 _"That I'll need you to commandeer my 4th Fleet, along with your Air Fleet to join me at the coast of Noman Island. I've already sent a few men there to set up a temporary harbour for our staying."_

His flashback ended.

"Arthur…Damn you." Was what he said, his face rushed with exhilaration. He picked up the radio almost instantly.

"Raise the attack flag soldiers! We'll go straight into them! No pity! No prisoners! We'll clean this sea from the Abyssals footprint!" The transmission was to all ships, not just captains.

"Hai!" The unison cries of all bounced back to him, anticipation and spirits peaked, minds and thoughts united.

At 1545, the fleet has finished forming and was moving in a squared formation, with three columns and three rows; Hiroshi's in the middle.

At 1550, launching devices were activated and on standby.

The Battle of Noman Coast had begun.

* * *

On Arthur's side, the information of Hiroshi's attack had also arrived to him, but with different context.

"Shawn!" He called. "What's moving there?"

The man called Shawn trotted to his side with a binocular. After looking at the direction Arthur was pointing at, he politely admitted.

"I don't know sir. The setting sun is blocking my vision. I can only see three black somethings."

Two more officers came next to him, doing the same.

"Those black somethings are ships." One spoke out

"Ships? But whose? Abyssal's or Hiroshi's?" Arthur inquired, resigned from looking at the sun himself.

"I think that's the Abyssal's Elite Destroyers! They're coming to reinforce them!" The other one joined in.

"Reinforce? But they have the upper-hand." The first officer countered, not believing it to be true.

 _It may be true._ Arthur considered. _But it's still possible that's it's the Abyssals. If it's really them, it will be bad. Better to be safe than sorry._

"All, 70 degrees, port, 15 knots." Arthur ordered the ships' navigators, as short and concise as ever. And in addition, he also called for the kanmusus that Hiroshi had given him 3 days before to move backward to the back of his fleet.

Without needing to answer him, each and every ships began to move as he pleased.

 _If the need comes, I can disengage._

* * *

But from the Abyssals' perspective, it was different.

The Aircraft Carrier Princess extended her vision, to the British Fleet. Those accursed kanmusus are moving back, and the fleet is moving away from them. That can only come down to only one conclusion.

 _They're retreating!_ She said upon herself. _Victory!_

With the thought of crushing and torturing the kanmusus and the human's naval fleet sent excitement rushing through her body.

Without much consideration, she immediately gave the decisive move.

* * *

 _What is this?_

 _'What's happening?'_

 _The hell?_

Those were the questions that ran through everybody's mind as they witness the scene ahead of them.

In just 15 minutes, the Abyssals had launched a total of over 400 aircrafts into the air, combining with those that had already encountered battle, made it over 500. That 500 roaring engines, even more than the number of aircrafts that participated at Midway, were quickly making their way through the battlefield to the British fleet, shooting down anyone that dared to stop them.

"Uh oh." Arthur slightly shrank away at the sight, as he muttered under his breath.

"Sir! We must pull our planes back immediately!" William spoke, his fists clenching and his eyes narrowing in great anxiety.

"All units, fall back!"

They were immediately back at the carriers.

"All hands to battle stations! Target, 2 o' clock! 45 degrees! Missiles!"

"FIRE!"

White smokes poured immensely from the missile pods, thicker and thicker over time as flashes of fires emerged and disappeared repeatedly. Countless rockets were launched into the sky, each to their own separate target. But Abyssals are intelligent creatures, the planes are able to machine gun their incoming target. Some missiles were shot and exploded before they could reach their target. But some managed to hit, and collateral damage ensured some other were down as well. However, the enormous numbers of planes had rendered the missiles almost completely ineffective, as they soon reached their bombing range without much casualties.

"Hold your fire! Switch to MG!"

"Incoming enemy planes! Keep focus! Shoot its engine!"

"Fire at the engine!"

The missiles ceased to soar, but in replacement, millions of bullets were flung violently and chaotically at the incoming planes. This time, this methods were considerably effective, as almost a third of the squadron were torpedo bombers. And because they flew significantly lower, they were easily shot down by machine gun fire. In addition, because they flew quite tightly together, so shooting randomly may still have a good chance of hitting.

But numbers still had their advantage. The planes broke their formation, and were flying in different direction, but not ramming on each other. A number of planes had the perfect condition to bomb. And they went for it.

Arthur's carrier suddenly tilted, sending him slightly off-balance. Three explosions had occurred dangerously close to the carrier's starboard side. It was the bombs for sure. A few more rained down on the area around them. Looking around, he saw one of his destroyers struck by a bomb. Not entirely, but the explosion caused a large fire on the vessel.

"Such a horrifying sight." Inazuma, who was with her squad-mates, whimpered as she tried desperately to lock her guns on a target. That's not a good way to do it. The planes have all broken formation and are flying disorderly.

"Quit it! And fire!" Tenryuu shouted, as she open fired her 20.3cm guns, and all her anti-airs. She was deeply annoyed that she wasn't able to use her sword in this kind of situation.

Tatsuta was as cold as usual. Ikazuchi and Hibiki were looking around and around confusingly, and shooting randomly at the sky. Akatsuki did the same, but with tears in her eyes. She was grazed by a bomb explosion earlier. It wasn't a pleasant experience for her.

Meanwhile, the Abyssals were closing in on the English fleet. They gradually moved into firing range, but refrained from opening fire, due to the large number of friendly aircrafts near its targets.

A lucky Abyssal torpedo bomber managed to survive being shot down by machine gun fire dropped the torpedo. It wasn't in a direct straight line, a little bit drifting to the left, but still its trajectory were surely heading for the unaware Akatsuki.

"Akatsuki! Abunai! (Watch out!)" Ikazuchi noticed the torpedo, and yelled out.

She immediately saw it coming, but couldn't dodge it. The moment she tried to, was when she was hit by another bomb. This time, her clothes and cosmetics were tattered, her rudders were damaged. It was fixable, but the real problem here is that, a torpedo is heading straight for her. And she can't move. There's no way it will miraculously miss or something. It is set in stone that it will explode when it comes in contact with her.

"Akatsuki!" Tenryuu cried to her, her eyes filled with horrors.

"No!" All she could do was cringe, close her eyes tightly, and hope for the best.

And then it happened.

An explosion was heard

But no pain or anything.

Akatsuki slowly opened her eyes. And before her was the bow of a British destroyer, and the water spreading out it. The ship was dangerously tilted to the port side, but after a few seconds, it regained its stability.

"Flood ballast tanks! Quickly!"

Came the cries of the crew member as they try to control the flooding. It appeared that the torpedo did not hit her. The captain of the ship had conducted a quick right-hook style turn, making it just barely enough to counter the torpedo.

While the flooding was being controlled, the damaged destroyer slowly drifted back to its formation.

"Protect the fleet ladies!" Came a sudden shout from one destroyer.

"Hurrah!" Then an unexpected deafening unison cries from each and every seaman in the fleet.

"We'll show the Japanese what the famous British Royal Navy can do!" Then another

"Hurrah!"

"Trafalgar! Jutland! Taranto! Now Noman!"

"Hurrah!"

"Enemy ships in range!"

"FIRE!"

The guns exploded out in rage, as all main armaments of all British ships, except for the two carriers, opened fire on the new enemy targets, while machine guns and anti-airs continued to cut down as many enemy planes as possible. Destroyers with guided missiles altogether launched theirs as well.

Shells and missiles relentlessly slammed down onto Abyssal destroyers and light cruisers, tearing their bodies apart in mere seconds. But many managed to dodge the incoming missiles. And then they retaliated, in anger, not even aware of the planes that were still swarming around the English ships.

Suddenly, one destroyer was struck by three Abyssal shells in three different spots. Then it exploded violently, cutting the ship into two.

"Sowwell, hit and sinking!"

"Damn it! Try and save as many as you can!" Arthur commanded, and he picked up the transceiver.

"For England! For home! And for humanity!"

"Hurrah!" Yet another battle cry. But the battle is still far from over.

* * *

"How long does it take to reach the launching range?" Hiroshi asked his captain, in which he replied.

"10 minutes sir."

Hiroshi looked up at the sky. It was nearly dusk. Night was drawing near. It is their most desired situation. They can still launch planes at night, albeit not as many as during the day. But Arthur can't. They have a hefty number of cruisers and destroyers, which are capable of dealing enormous damage at night. If he lets them battle at night, casualties will mount up really fast. He needs to end this before then.

He turned back, seeing his Guards lining up obediently behind him. And he saw with his eyes one answer.

"Are you ready? For battle?" He asked.

The girls smiled in response. To him, the answer was already clear enough.

"Of course we're ready."

It wasn't necessary answer, but it sent his spirits sky-rocketing.

"Then take your position. Now!"

"Yes sir!"

"Take your position!" He chanted the line again over the transceiver. And it was echoed a few more times.

The kanmusus hurried to their position. A few minutes to launching range, Hiroshi made another announcement.

"Full speed ahead! Follow my lead!"

A few seconds to launching range, Hiroshi draw a cross sign with his fingers, despite not being Christian. Then he shouted.

"Get ready! Sound the advance! CHARGE!"

As if my command, the ship girls jumped onto the launching pads. And by a few seconds later, they were already closely engaging with the Abyssal ships. But still, due to inexperience in using this kind of device, the young Fubuki-class destroyers were easily toppled off-balance, resulting in several crashes: Fubuki hit her back riggings on a destroyer, Shirayuki smashed her one of her guns on one of the Abyssal light cruiser's, Ayanami missed but landed with her face instead of legs. Murakumo was the only destroyer doing correctly, plunging her spear deeply into a Ha-class destroyer, killing it instantly.

Then came the Guards'. Maya right at the first few seconds after launch, she already earned herself two kills with her two 20.3cm guns. Young Asashio landed pretty much without incident, while Nagato and Mutsu, who were masters of close combat, smashed one heavy cruisers for each. Then finally the most powerful, Yamato, slammed onto a Ru-class battleship, and still went on until the two of them crashed onto another.

 _Am I that heavy?_ Inquired the super-battleship embarrassingly.

It took them a while before they realized what was happening. And when they do, it was too late already. Another fleet was right behind them, secretly carrying kanmusus, and now those accursed kanmusus are right under their noses.

With their fleet's main body suddenly demolished, the fleet negated their attack on the British fleet and desperately tried to reform their formation and resist, in panic. To add insult to injury, the planes that were sent stampeding onto the British were mostly neutralized.

"Damn it William, you're right. He sure is unpredictable. A few minutes ago I was afraid that we were toast. Everyone! Starboard! 55 degrees! We'll join him!" Arthur commanded, and the Royal Navy's fleet turned at his will.

The Abyssals appeared to reform into a squared defensive formation. It would be bad if they completed it, so Hiroshi immediately initiated an intercept.

"Ready the torpedoes! Port! 30 degrees!" He ordered one captain, and his own.

The centred destroyer, and the one on the far left, suddenly drifted left, despite the entire fleet heading straight forward. It gracefully evaded the ship behind him from ramming onto each other. Then the two ships went their own ways, to the rear of the new Abyssal formation.

It took them a while before they realise: Hiroshi was breaking formation.

The rest of the crew members were in confusion. Nobody was told about this. It was truly an unexpected development.

Ten minutes later, he was enclosing in on the tight Abyssal formation formed in haste. And it revealed his true intentions

The Abyssals looked with horrors, despite being creatures that weren't designed to have emotions, as his two destroyers got them locked dead rights.

"Fire!" Hiroshi bellowed loudly the decisive move.

"Fire all!"

8 silent pepping sound resounded from the two ships' starboard side, followed by the thundering roars of missiles launching towards the fleet. The torpedoes glided beneath the ocean's surface, as silent and as deadly as a poisonous serpent hunting its preys. Ironically, the preys this time were the usual predators.

A Re-class battleship was blown up instantly, after suffering a direct missile and torpedo hit to her magazine area. Two more light cruisers also sank. The Abyssals were now thrown into a state of complete disarray, with the ship girls right nearby, the British fleet to their right, the Japanese to their left. Completely surrounded, the Aircraft Carrier Princess decided to try and break away from the envelopment, hoping of successfully retreating and regaining contact with its fellow allies at Okinawa. And the safest way is through the weakest joint of the envelopment, and that is two of the lone Japanese vessels, one of which carrying Hiroshi.

The Carrier Princess immediately gathered her underlings, then she raised her right hand to indicate that they are about to move. And what was feared, happened. She pointed at the two Japanese destroyers.

The horrors of what happened next couldn't be described in words. They were engaged by almost 30 Abyssals. Thousands, possibly millions, of bullets and shells started pounding down on the two JMSDF's destroyers. Planes that survived the British anti-airs also bombed on those lone twos.

A shell barely grazed Hiroshi's vessel, sending Hiroshi tumbling to the ship's deck.

"Shit! Urrghhh!" He cursed as he grab onto a panel to get his footing. "Evasive manoeuvre!"

Now there's no more formation or stuffs, the two destroyers broke away, each going their own way.

"Admiral!" The fleet girls seemed to have heard his scowl over the radio.

The Grand Bodyguards were no exception.

"Admiral!" Yamato's face paled the moment she witnessed his ship being bombarded.

"We must protect him!" Mutsu dashed forward, but was stopped by a full broadside of a battleship.

"Damn it!" Nagato cursed her incompetence, as she couldn't break through their formation.

The news of their Admiral under attack had sent the girls off guard, and several enemy ships took that opportunity to break away from their grasp. And they contributed to the attack on the two vessels.

Another shell ricocheted off of his ship's bow, sending the ship rocking again. But this time, the rocking did not send Hiroshi down to the floor. He firmly held the panel and calmly gave order to his steer-man and his captain. He realized that they are retreating and as long as he get out of the Abyssal's retreating route, he will have more chance to survive this. However, things weren't that easy.

A hail of machine gun fire pierced through the ship's windows and struck his right arm.

"Argh! Kuso! (Crap!) Everybody alright?!" What he saw wasn't what he hoped.

The bullets had burst apart several panels and machineries, killing a few officers, including his steer-man.

"Sir!"

"Sir!"

The rest of the officers started to swarm around him as they saw Hiroshi clenching his wounded arm.

"What are you doing?! Get back to your position!" He shouted angrily, but some officers did not comply. They were worried, for his safe-being.

"Not until you take shelter sir! If you don't, you'll be killed!"

"If I take shelter, we'll all be killed! Now get back to your position!" He lurched to the steering room, and took the wheel himself, stepping over the body of the dead steer-man. The officers then scattered.

"You must tie it down, your wound!" Said his captain, who was near the steer-man all the time.

"Do it for me will you? I'm busy!"

With all his strength focused on his left hand, he turned the wheel, turning his ship towards the British fleet.

From Arthur's point of vision, he definitely didn't see that coming.

"Damn it! This is bullshit!" He damned loudly for the first time. "Santistima! Break off and intercept the vessel! Launch all remaining planes! Protect that ship!"

The 'Santistima' detached from the formation, and a total of 64 remaining aircrafts took off hastily in order to save the damaged vessel.

The rain of bullets and shells did not relent, and Hiroshi at one point couldn't feel his ship responding to him anymore.

"Sir! The rudder is shot away, the steering don't answer! We're now like fish in a barrel!"

Hiroshi let go of the steering wheel, letting it go to where it pleased. Then he noticed a conventional destroyer going parallel but in the opposite direction to his. It's Arthur's for sure. This is his last and only chance.

"No we're not. All hands on deck!" He dashed out of the room, to the ship's deck.

The British ship draws closer. There Hiroshi gave his last order to the crew.

"Abandon ship! Abandon ship!"

They all knew his intention. They did not jump immediately. They waited

The two bows have met each other, then the front deck. That moment, all the crews at the two mentioned area starts jumping, landing on the other side. Then the main mast passed, with some more jumped. Then finally the stern, with the rest started to leap, with the hope of salvation. The British soldiers were ready to help those abandoning seamen, which was a great relief to them, at least.

Then the two ships started to move away, now only the stern of the British ship are the safe spot to jump.

The last survivors jumped, landing safely on the stern. The only one left is the Admiral of this fleet, Hiroshi.

After he make sure that everybody else have fled to the Royal Navy ship, he prepared for the jump as well. But the ship has just furthered even more. He can no longer jump onto the stern. If he misses, he may land on the propellers, and will either be pushed away or be killed.

What can he do? Hiroshi looked at the ship, in quick haste. The handrail! That's the one he can grab on!

There's no time for caution and consideration. He immediately leaped.

PACK!

Success!

Hiroshi's left hand barely manage to grip on the handrail of the moving ship. Under him was still the spinning propeller that threatened to kill him as soon as he fell.

Immediately, the fleeing seamen and British soldiers rushed to aid him and pull him up. As he step foot on the stern, the ship that a few seconds ago he was on exploded into a fiery inferno.

"…"

"…"

"…"

For 5 minutes after the explosion, there was no firing; they were either shocked by the destruction of Hiroshi's flagship for the ship girls, or busy retreating for the Abyssals.

"This is Admiral Hiroshi Lanne, on the Santistima." During the lull, Hiroshi was already inside the command room, and was making transmission to reassure the fleet girls. "I hereby order all ships to pursue the attackers."

But they were already too far away, and the two fleets were in no condition to continue, as they were struggling to regroup.

The girls slumped down, resting on their knees or their feet. They were also in no condition to continue or celebrate.

Yamato lowered all her guns. She turned to the Santistima, where he is now standing on the stern, looking on his destroyed flagship with a sorrowful expressions. Several other ships were heading there to rescue if there is any survivors left. Also for the Sowwell, which sank earlier.

 _Admiral…_ She knew he didn't like this. A pyrrhic victory. The Abyssals did lose a lot of ships and planes, but they can replenish it fairly quickly. In comparison, he lost two ships, and probably many brave men that took at least generation to replenish.

Watching the ship sank into the deep sea, he didn't know whether to blame himself or not. It was his decision that bring this battle to an end, but at the cost of a ship. It was a dear cost.

How it turned out, he couldn't resist asking himself, what if he didn't do it. It was just like that time.

But this isn't that time. He quickly pulled himself back before he was drifted away to his reminisces.

You can be as mad as a mad dog at the way things went, you swear and curse at fates. But when the time comes, you have to let go. There's no use dwelling over it now.

"All ships. When you're finished, head for Noman Island. There, repairs and provisions will be given to you."

He hung up. The last order for the battle.

* * *

 **If you want to know, the plane charge was inspired by Marshal Ney's charge at Waterloo. Just for fun, I'm into Napoleonic history. :P**


	17. Chapter 17: The meaning of the scars

**Thank you cko2 and KIROV AIRSHIP (man you change your name a lot) for the review.**

 **Feel free to review if you want to praise or criticize my story. Constructive criticism are openly welcomed**

 **Disclaimer:** **Again, all Kancolle characters belong to their respective owners. And nothing in this fic are related to real life, only referencing.**

* * *

Chapter 17: The meaning of the scars

By nightfall, all ships were sailing or being towed back to port. Only two of Arthur's carriers didn't enter port due to the large size of it comparing to the dock. It was instead anchored a kilometre away from the coast, and Arthur decided to go to the island via a small dinghy, in a similar fashion to what he usually do at Yokosuka.

"It feels so long since I last step foot on land." Arthur said as his small boat reached the shore.

"But I thought you were at Yokosuka 3 or 4 days ago, sir." Replied one of his subordinates.

"Yes, but after being threatened to lose my life at the ocean countless times back then, I've come to appreciate land now."

The officer that just spoke chuckled, having cleared up some of the tense atmosphere after the intense battle. At the same time, he could see one his own ships, the Santistima, arriving at the dock.

 _That takes care of that._ Arthur hummed under his breathe, as he walked away. His men knew what to do. There were a few reports to be written, but it was work for another day. He decided to spend the time checking up on the girls of the 6th DesDiv. They were his soldiers, and one of them was heavily damaged earlier, so he couldn't really leave them alone.

At the harbour, the Santistima finally came to a stop, to the anticipation of the kanmusus swarming around the dock at that time. They waited, eagerly and anxiously, for their Admiral. They didn't want praises or instant repairs. A sight of their Admiral alive in one piece would be more than enough to satisfy everyone.

And their satisfaction were soon met.

Admiral Lanne soon walked out from the ship's door, his right arm soaked in his own blood, staining his blue uniform. But he didn't give a single care about it

He stood just outside the door, tall and proudly. His eyes glimmered, as he casted it down onto the crowd below. He knew what was more important than simply a gunshot wound.

Their reactions were rather mixed. No cheers, no jumping or dancing for joy. Only ripples and sighs were given. The majority were relieved to see his usually seen appearance after the battle. But witnessing the blood coming from his arm, others paled as white as snow. Only few minorities were scornful, for making such a crazy decision.

But at least it's a heart-warming sight.

Hiroshi stepped down from the ship, followed by the British and the survivors of his sunken ship. They too were all given a heroic welcome.

"Admiral! Are you alright?! You're bleeding!" Hiroshi saw Yamato's brown eyes deepening as she bombarded him with concerned shouts

"Yes. Another battle would still be ok." It is now that he actually feel the immense throb coming from his wound. But his usual confidence was still overwhelming.

"Idiot…" She mumbled in return. "If you want to continue fighting, you have to at least patch it up. Please come with me." She then pulled his uninjured arm forcefully and dragged him along.

"Eh?...Alright." He had no choice but to comply here

* * *

Yamato's, who despite being just a girl, grip on his arm was extremely powerful that Hiroshi couldn't release himself from it. His impression on her this time was similar to a truck that had its rope tied on his arm But speaking literally, she was not a normal human herself. She was a super battleship, the world's biggest and most powerful vessels.

And she seemed to be seriously concerned this time.

"Excuse me." Yamato said as she stepped into one of the medical tents. It was extremely crowded inside as the stench of blood and flesh forced their ways up to their noses almost instantly. But it was unusually silent. No screams or cries of pain or agony. It appeared that the wounded had already been treated with great care. Just by looking at the exhausted face of the medical team here, the answer was a given.

"I think we shouldn't bother them any further. They've exhausted themselves." Hiroshi said.

"I agree. In that case…" She sat down on a vacant chair nearby and dragged another one to her side. "Sit here and I'll patch it up for you."

"You? Do you know how?" He asked, somewhat nervous if she said she couldn't. That would be a problem.

"Of course I knew. I'm, of course, Hotel Ya-" That was close. She almost spitted out the title that she would come crawling into a hole and die. At the same time, she looked at him groggily, wondering if he had heard that.

"You're what?" Mortified, she owed her head so that no one could actually see her face, which is turning red like a ripe tomato.

"Can you hear me? I'm asking you."

"Anyway, please just take off your shirt. I'll be doing it quickly." She tried to get back on track before he could press her to say it. She knew that once he do so, it would be terrifying, and embarrassing at the end.

"Well…sure." Hiroshi paused for a few seconds, then started to unbutton his uniform shirt. But after he did with the second one, he stopped, reluctantly.

"On second thought, I think I'll treat my arm myself."

"I don't think you can patch it up with only your left hand."

"But…it's just that." For the first time, he showed a rare moment that he couldn't really put his words together. Just because of it, the secret that he always kept under the thin layer of cloth.

"Heh?!...Eto(Umm)…" The redness on her face returned.

She was getting the wrong idea.

"…I-It's ok…is it? As long as it helps with your injuries…I don't mind." She stuttered slightly, her gaze couldn't find her way to meet his. They are both at the ground now.

 _'_ _It's not that!'_

"Come on, if you don't take it out, the wound will get even worse." She insisted, her face still flushing light red, but with a serious countenance.

Her solemnity is quite scary, especially when it comes from a usually cheerful and soft-spoken girl. And yet she is still maintaining her usual politeness. In other words, she is becoming quite a persuasive person. You can also say she is becoming a bit like Hiroshi. They said communication affects manners wasn't false at all.

Hiroshi let out a sigh, as he resigned from arguing with her about this matter. Then he slowly took off his glove, for the first time, in front of someone else.

First, the button at the far end.

Then each fingers.

The pinky.

The ring

The middle

The index

And then the thumb, finally removing the glove.

 _What is this?_

As Yamato looked at it, her eyes instinctively widened. His right hand is now bare. But it wasn't as soft and smooth as hers. In his case, it's the total opposite.

What happened to him?

Hiroshi then unbuttoned the rest of his shirt, then took it off, revealing to her his entire bare upper body. That instance, she paled, raising her hand to cover her mouth as she saw his half-naked body. For someone skinny like him, it wasn't surprising that he would have thin builds and ectomorph kind of body. But that wasn't the reason she was so absorbed in it.

His right hand, or arm, was so mottled, that one could say it was mutated. Some spots had mellowed into shades darker than his skin tone, toughened by the wind, gust and years, but some were still vividly pink, mottling on lumpy places of his skin, serving as angry reminders of his past mistakes.

From the looks of it, it would be a third degree burn scar, despite having been treated several times before. And it wasn't just his right arm only, his entire right shoulder and back were also covered with burn marks.

 _Just what had he been through?_

"What is that scar on…your body?" Came the inevitable question.

Hiroshi owed his head, and smiled bitterly.

A smile carrying a thousand needles.

"Do you know the unexpected Abyssal bombing operation on mainland Japan 6 years ago?"

"Y-Yes. What about it?"

"My hometown was one of their first target. Because it is unexpected, we didn't evacuate"

 _'_ _Nor we could.'_

"So your scars…" She had a sinking feeling about it.

"During the confusion, I was hit by a napalm strike that scorched my entire back. The next thing I knew, I was in a hospital, with bandages and dresses all over me."

"…That's…horrible." She replied, her voice turned low, pausing and gapping occasionally, sympathetically.

But it wasn't enough.

It still hurts.

"Look, it's already been 6 years since. Let's not be reminded of that…It really pains my memory." Hiroshi suggested, his words went in sync with his feelings

"…Hmm…" She nodded, but her face wore sad, hanging low. She could not shrug away the story he just told her, despite the short length.

What was this feeling welling up inside of her?

Pity.

Sympathy.

Or…

"Remind yourself why we are here. Are you going to patch my arm up or not?" Hiroshi quickly switched the subject.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" She realized. After examining his wound carefully, she continued.

"It already stopped bleeding…"

"Of course it has. A while ago. If it was still bleeding, I would be dead. Now all you have to do now is extract that bullet and then dress it up."

And she did it immediately. The process of bullet extraction was indeed painful, because painkillers were in shortage, but for someone who had endured a lot more than that, he bore it easily without it. After that, the wound was simplified to just patching up, and all was done.

* * *

Having his wound treated, and his clothes changed, Hiroshi quickly headed back for the radar station, along with the rest of his Guards.

"Sir!" Ooyodo stood up and saluted the moment Hiroshi entered the room. He walked to her and patted her shoulder to gesture her to be at ease.

"Great work today. Take a rest." He complimented, in which she took it with sincerity. She took down her headset, and headed for the exit to get some fresh air.

"Wait! In the last few hours, any telegraphs or transmissions from the main fleet?"

"Oh." She stopped at her tracks, and instead headed for a stack of printed papers and handed him a sheet of paper.

"They arrived just 30 minutes ago."

"Have you read it?"

"Not yet sir. I think it wasn't anything important, so…"

Hiroshi skimmed through the letter quickly and hastily, but trying not to spare any of its content. However, they were too incomprehensive to read it quickly, logically speaking.

"What is this?"

"What sir?" Nagato walked to him and was handed the report he was reading.

"News from the main fleet. They said that under their radars and sonars, only one-fifth of the original number of 121 Abyssals were spotted. How the hell is this even possible aside from retreating?"

"Hmm…But do they report of any Abyssal advances or attacks?"

"None, but they should have had. I'll ask the Australians to scan the seabed again. They'll give a better surveillance. Ooyodo!" Hiroshi called out, and the radio specialist reported in almost immediately to receive the order.

A few hours later.

"The recon report is totally blank. How can they vanish from the map so quickly?!"

"Well…I think…" It was Mutsu who spoke out. "I remember that there is a rumour that the Abyssals were able to manoeuvre while being submerged. So that may explains their sudden disappearance."

"Is that true?"

"Yeah. Reports from various countries has shown Abyssal beings traveling underwater for surprise attacks. But I heard that aside from submarines, the Abyssals prefer to stay afloat, since their traveling speed decreases when underwater."

"…Surprise attacks? How fast are they when submerged? And when was the last time they reported the full Abyssal fleets?"

"About 1.5 times slower than usual. Well…the last time was…4 days ago if I remember exactly."

"4 days…" A map materialized inside his mind, resembling the map back at Chinatsu, including all the symbols and signs of troops that was placed beforehand. And then, the figures in his mind started to move.

Map scale.

Estimated speed.

Time.

Multiplication.

Line segments.

 _'_ _!'_

He snapped, as a light bulb flashed in his head. His two hands clapped onto each other loudly as a reflex.

 _'_ _That must have been, right?'_

"Sir?" His sudden action seemed to have drawn the attention of the two Nagato-class.

"Tell me. Are the Abyssals capable of devising a complicated strategy?" Hiroshi inquired, asking for confirmation.

"Hmm…Sometimes. At the beginning of the war, before we were reborn, the Abyssals mostly used simple tactics, as they were compensated by their powerful arsenals and sheer numbers. But several months after the kanmusus debut, they were pushed back a bit. And so some newer strategies such as ambushes and distractions appeared. In recent years, some of our up-to-date strategies were also used. So yeah, I think they are capable."

 _'_ _Bingo!'_

"Assuming that all of it is true, then our fleet is completely idled. They are trying to sneak past us and meet up with their comrades." As Hiroshi finished that, he immediately turned on his heel, and picked up the radio from Ooyodo's communication set.

"Are you implying that they are trying to rendezvous with each other at Okinawa? And the Southern Pacific group are doing that by travelling through the Coral Sea?" The little but intelligent Asashio spoke out in a clear and composed pattern.

"Exactly what I had in mind. And according to my own calculation, they may be near the South Philippine Sea." Hiroshi said while dialling the address on the com system.

"So are you going to pursue them, sir?"

"I don't think we have the condition to do that. Once they realize what is chasing them, they'll surface and then travel with faster speed. We'll not catch them on time. So I think we'll have to let them combine forces."

"That's crazy. We will be completely outnumbered." Nagato disagreed, but was met with Hiroshi's unimpressed gaze.

"You said that because the Abyssals were so powerful at the beginning that they didn't even need to use complicated strategies, right?"

"Yes sir. So?"

"I'll give them that power. Will that trigger their overconfidence so that they would throw themselves at us?" Struck right at the heart of the problem.

"Eh…Sou dewa (It's)…"

"I think they will. It's a pretty simple mind-set. The next major battle I shall put that mind-set to the test. If their guns and bombs aren't as sharp as my mind, then the fate of the Pacific Theatre is of the meaning of its name." Hiroshi ended the conversation, with his usual highly confident smirk forming on his face.

And so, the Prime Fleet had begun to move.

The battle of Noman Coast was over.

The second battle of Okinawa awaits…

* * *

 **It's quite a short chapter, but because I don't know how to continue this, I just have to end it here. I will try to make it longer in the upcoming chapters, so stay tuned!**


	18. Chapter 18: Mobilisation

**It's chapter 18 of General.**

 **I know it has been quite a long time since I posted. Because recently I've been focusing a bit on another fic, a Strike Witches fic: The day Britannia fell. If you have time and interest, you can spend a few minutes reading it. Very much appreciated. And I promise I won't abandon this fic, so you don't have to worry/**

 **Alert before reading the chapter: extensive planning ahead at the end of this chapter. And a few contents relating to the Abyssals' origin to be expected. Oh and through the planning, you can guess which two battles that I'm basing this to. A hint is that they took place in 1805, and are 42 days from each other. Good luck!**

 **Anyway, enjoy the chapter. And stay tuned for more chapters. Leave a review if you have any criticisms, praises, rants about my story. All constructive criticisms are appreciated.**

 **Last but not least, thank you Lt. Cmdr. Jonathan Miller and cko2 for reviewing chapter 17.**

 **Disclaimer: Neither Kancolle nor its characters belongs to me. All credits should be given to their respective owners**

* * *

Chapter 18: Mobilisation.

It had been 11 days since. The Southern Abyssal Fleet were on their way to merge with their Indian Group, according to what both sides had planned. The forced sail of the Prime Fleet had started and was nearly reaching its end. During the time period, several small-scale battle also occurred off the Noman coast, but they were all strategically inconclusive, and only moderate damages were recorded at most.

"And that's that." Ooyodo finally had a chance to exhale breathes of exhaustion. She had been working tirelessly during these days in order to keep communication flowing like waters.

"What do you have for us?" Asked Hiroshi.

"Commander Hayashi-san contacted us, simply to tell that their estimated arrival time would be tomorrow morning at 0700."

"0700. Ok." He nodded, but Ooyodo had to remind him instantly.

"Sir, be sure to have someone to wake you up, someone persistent."

"I know." He retaliated, somewhat very annoyed. That topic had been gossiped quite a lot within the Guards recently, and it would be unpleasant if the rest of the kanmusus did the same.

Ooyodo didn't say anything back, knowing that it would be useless to talk back to such a guy.

"What day is it today anyway?" Asked Hiroshi.

"It's…December 23." She replied, as it caught Mutsu's attention.

"Tomorrow's Christmas Eve. Do you have anything to give us?" Mutsu asked, with a playful voice.

"…Me? A victory. Well, I couldn't give you that right tomorrow but…"

"Not that! I mean real presents. Of course we wanted to win the war but that doesn't mean we don't want anything else."

"Presents…I don't usually buy them. Nor could we find anything on this tropical island anyway."

"We could hold a party. Or probably a live show."

"No way. A live show is out of the question." He quickly disapproved, his two arms raised diagonally, creating the letter X.

That night is a night to forget.

"Then what do you want to do? A live show is the only thing I could think of." She resigned

"We're in a tropical island, so obviously we won't have snows. We don't have materials to wrap gifts or make any Christmas stuffs, so obviously we are lacking in almost every sense. I think the most economical way would be to…host a barbeque or a small buffet, using all the foods we were provided."

"Chiiii…That's boring." Mutsu pouted. "A live show after that is much more entertaining."

"I don't see that 'entertaining' you are talking about."

"You're just embarrassed because you have such a terrible voice, aren't you?"

She was right on the mark.

Hiroshi could feel his blood pressure heating up.

"Don't make me get rough." He's turning more cynical in seconds.

"I'll just ask Naka not to call you, ok? But I think she knew that already. Just…for once please Admiral. We don't get many opportunities to have fun, especially before you came."

They were not allowed to. Because they thought it would cause too much commotions.

But after the previous Admiral was dismissed from his position, they'd hoped that they could do it, for at least once. Because maybe in some day, they wouldn't have the opportunity ever again.

It shouldn't be overlooked, right? Those pure wishes of theirs.

"Ok fine. But I won't have a lot of time to spare."

"We'll take care of it. You just have to keep everything in perfect order. I remembered that the last time we hosted this, the destroyers…destroyed one third of our base with…fireworks." Mutsu beamed devilishly.

That couldn't be good.

'A fun activity, once it gets bored, chaos usually occur.'

Maya's words echoed repeatedly in his mind.

 _'_ _Well there's no use worrying over it now.'_ Hiroshi left the topic with those thoughts in mind.

* * *

The next day.

Reinforcements have arrived.

Ships of the Prime Fleet appeared, big and small, 6 a group, suddenly appeared over the southern horizon, being shined on by the gentle light of the rising sun. The largest one seen was a heavy cruiser, developed especially for their commanding officer, Mai Hayashi. Born in a wealthy family with the naval traditions, they weren't much in favour of the recent changes in naval tendency, which is the development of fast, agile ships or large, aircraft carrying vessels. With the Abyssal War taking a negative turn, using the powers they had in industry, they had developed multiple destroyers in their names, a few light cruiser, and especially a heavy cruiser, made especially for their favourite daughter, who was surprisingly enthusiastic in their naval traditions.

By 0730, all the fleet's vessels were in sight, and awaiting dockings. There were not enough spaces for docking, so a few ships had to anchor off the coast. Ooyodo will be the one who decide who will dock and who will anchor.

But the one that should've been there, isn't there.

"He's hopeless. Yamato, could you go and wake him up?" Nagato made a mental 'facepalm' as she asked.

"Roger." She immediately departed

Yamato went to his cabin, and knocked gently.

No responses.

She knocked again, louder this time.

Still no responses.

'Is he still asleep?' She thought to herself, as she opened the door, quietly.

Quietly slipping into the room through the small gap she made, what she saw confirmed it.

Hiroshi was lying on his bed, motionless, not a twitch, barely any movements aside from his chest rising and falling with every intake of air. He was totally at peace, totally not aware of how late he was.

'Really…He's like a kid in this aspect.' Yamato sighed with a small smile on her soft lips. Well, it wouldn't hurt to let him sleep a bit more

She tip-toed to the other side of the room, instead, to his desk. It was surprisingly tidy. All the papers, sheets, folders, books were all placed neatly in one corner, in clear filtering. Pens, pencils and other accessories were put in another place and, like the papers, categorized as well. All other necessities were all put away, in a drawer, and likewise, they were placed in a paralleled or perpendicular to each other. One could say he's a neat freak, but no wonder his work efficiency is always at its peak.

She shuffled through the stack of books on the table. There were only three, as he thought it was not a good idea to bring too many, and they were either his favourite, or currently being read.

With a bit of interests, she opened the book's cover.

There was a picture in it.

Yamato tilted her head in curiosity as she looked at it.

In it, there were two, a boy with red eyes and a girl with violet ones, and a long waist-length dark hair, both around their adolescence, all with the same height, standing in front of a big mansion. Examining it carefully, Yamato discovered a noticeable feature about the picture.

It is the Admiral when he was younger. Through the crimson eyes she concluded, although his face was much less serious than now.

But what about the girl next to him?

Is she his girlfriend or something?

'She can't be, right?'

Hiroshi never talked about it, ever. Stuffs about himself, his childhood, his family, he shared it only a few times, and it was a bit forceful of him. He didn't seem to enjoy talking about it either.

Her eyes glimmered with a weird sensation.

"Admiral! Are you awake?!" All of a sudden, a voice called out from the door. It sounded like Maya.

'Oh dear.' She immediately hid the photo, not in the book, but in her palm instead, behind her back. She'll ask someone else about this later

"Admiral. Wake up, it's time." Then she kneeled next to his bed and shook his shoulder gently.

"Hmm…" His eyelids slowly opened. The first thing Hiroshi registered is Yamato's cute smile.

"It's 0730 now. The main fleet had already arrived. You have to be there to greet them."

The next is what she said. The one after is that he is late

He immediately bolted up, like a lightning.

"I'm late again!" He darted straight into the lavatory, with a rare occasion of losing his usual composure.

Yamato could only giggle at the sight. Despite all the exteriors he had shown, there were some sides of him that she didn't really know.

"God damn it. Thanks for waking me." He exited, dressed in his usual blue uniform.

"No problem. Let's go."

* * *

At the port, the ship dockings were going on smoothly, with most of the fleet's conventional ships docked safely. Mai's ships, on the other hand, were a bit too large, so it had to be anchored, like Arthur's.

"I apologize, Lanne-san. For not being able to complete the mission you assigned me." Was the first thing Mai said to Hiroshi. But in response to her apologies, Hiroshi only patted her shoulder.

"Why aren't you angry?" She asked, a little bit confused.

"Because you followed exactly what I wanted you to do. That much is enough." He replied, as a faint pink tinge developed on her small cheeks.

"Thanks…" She replied.

"By the way, haven't we made a deal with each other? That we can address each other in a more informal way."

"Oh that's right…so it's Hiroshi."

He nodded in approval.

"Hiroshi, I hope you'll take care of me and my fellow comrades during our stay."

"Likewise."

And they exchanged a friendly handshake.

"By the way, what's happening here?" She indicated the commotions going on at the base.

There were a huge pile of woods that was laid out around a few pebbles that were placed in a way that it created a circle around them, like huge fireplace.

"What's today?" Hiroshi asked.

"Christmas Eve…Ohhhh." Not until she register the date did she find the answer to her own question.

"Exactly, I am…well, they are holding a campfire and an outdoor dinner, to celebrate it, since we don't have much to spare."

"Dinner?! What food do you have?! I love food!" She immediately became a different person when the topic of dinner was mentioned.

"Well…I don't know. Wait and you'll see. In the meantime, I would like to discuss a few things with you."

"But don't we need to settle into our rooms?"

"Yeah, but we'll be departing the next thing in the morning, so you'll only need a bed to sleep for the night. How many do you have?"

"About 1000, 15 ship girls included."

"1000 shouldn't be a problem, since you have your ships already, but for 15 girls…Do you have tents or anything that can shelter yourselves?"

"I thought you are supposed to prepare that."

This left a dumbfounded Hiroshi in a huge dilemma.

His men don't have any tents to spare, and his cabin can only afford one more. And you cannot place a man and a woman in a same ship, or on the same bed. So that means the only way to get this done is for his kanmusus to share tents. But most of these tents are for one person only. Having two in one could probably result in some unwanted chaos, which he may have to spare a few aspirins to deal with their complaints.

But are there any other choices? Probably not.

'I'll probably have to arrange a bit of accommodations around here." He sighed. "I'll announce that later, but for now, you'll have to try and get along with my girls first. I don't want to be showered with complaints or uncomfortable atmosphere being chanted around the base."

"Then let's go."

* * *

At Hiroshi's cabin.

"Where's Arthur? I thought I have already told him to be here."

The door immediately swung open as soon as he said that.

"Sorry I'm late. Those curveballs of the 6th Destroyer's Division kept clinging onto me." Arthur said.

"Wow, you're only here for a few times and you're already stuck with them." Hiroshi replied, in slight astonishment.

"I'm such a lovable guy." He boasted, which earned a mocking chuckle from his best friend, and a cute giggle from the young female from Asuka.

"Anyway, long time no see Mai. How's Warspite doing?"

"She's good. In fact, she's been talking a lot about you recently."

"Ohh. What does she talk about?" He asked, with curiosity.

"Stuffs like your personality and-"

"Ehem." Interrupted Hiroshi with a cough. "I don't recall summoning you all here today to chat."

"Oh…right. Hehe." They both smiled playfully. Such carefree people he is working with.

"Let's get to work, shall we? Remind me of both sides' compositions before we begin."

"Well…" Arthur furrowed his eyebrows. "Around 300, as I remember."

"And how many do we have? I have 25 ships to spare only, 15 of which are kanmusus from Germany, France, England and America. The rest are conventional warships from the JMSDF." Mai outlined her own forces' composition

"I have a total of 161, 152 kanmusus, 9 conventional warships, all destroyers. Well…it's 8 now, since one sank in the last battle." Hiroshi detailed.

"I don't have kanmusus, but I have at my disposal all the British warships presented here, also a few destroyers and out-of-date cruisers lying back at Yokosuka. That makes it 20 on my side." Arthur proclaimed.

"That's only 197 for us. A little bit over the two to one odds." Noted Mai.

"Good odds for all of us." Hiroshi said

"Really? Then what sort of strategy are you thinking of?"

"…We'll run."

Silence.

"…"

"…"

They honestly couldn't pick up what he just said.

He meant it. There is no jokes in that voice.

"Are you kidding me, Hiroshi?" Arthur remarked, with a dumbfounded and baffled expression.

"No kidding, we're going to play a little bit of cat and mouse with those Abyssals. We'll be the mouse." He replied, so much bluntness that it sounded so unbelievable.

"Run? Isn't that a bad strategical move? I mean, we have the advantageous position right here, at Noman. We can use it as our checkpoint and move forward."

"Forget all the advantageous position we have. Considering all the aspects, we are the one at a disadvantages here."

"But that's not a reason to abandon an entire island to them."

"Alright calm down…Hiroshi, care to explain everything, in full details." Arthur suddenly intervened.

"Certainly. Basically, it's just for a stunning deception." Hiroshi replied, walking over to the map of Okinawa and its vicinity.

"The Abyssals see us as a main threat to their conquest of the Pacific. So their goal is to bring about complete destruction to our fleet as soon as possible. If we make ourselves look weak and disorganized on purpose, they'll be sure to attack us. The retreat shall be the part of the deception."

Hiroshi picked up a marker, and then drew up two columns of lines, paralleled to each other, to the East the island

"We'll gather two-third of our initial forces here, massing most of them on one side, leaving the other side weakened. If they launch an attack on this weakened flank, our reserve fleet will immediately intervene."

"So you intentionally weaken your own right flank, in order to lure the enemy into massing on it. And then you'll mask them with your left flank." Mai said, with a solemn expression.

"Exactly. If they mobilize their entire fleet to envelop our right, our left will cut through their centre and do a counter envelopment. The same can be said unless they keep at least a force equivalent to our left fleet. But after looking at it carefully, that move is strategically bad." Hiroshi replied in detail.

"But what are you going to do if they try something different?" Arthur inquired.

"…I haven't really considered that much. It'll probably have to go to your own flexibility. You can't really put everything into consideration."

"Then we'll have to make sure they follow our plan instead." Said Mai, with her right index finger raised. "I have an idea."

And she told everything she got in mind. In simple terms, it was to burn down a section of the island's forest. After she finished, the two men looked at each other, with a bit of uncertainty

"That'll give them the impression of disorganization, but I don't think we have to go that far." Hiroshi said.

"But to ensure our success of this operation, you have to do everything you can. The Abyssals are deceivable creatures, but they aren't easily fooled. And as far as I can remember, the Abyssals have their own commanding officers as well."

"CO? You mean admirals?" Asked Arthur, to be answered by a nod.

"Yes." She looked away in the distance. "Have you two heard about the theory of the Abyssal's origin?"

"No, what about it?"

"The maidens that I and Hiroshi have at our command, are the souls of the Second World War's warships. Humanity somehow managed to summon them, and embodied them so that they are able to fight again. But have you ever thought that it was thanks to all those methods of soul summoning that the Abyssals existed today?"

Their eyes both widened at the same time.

"That's…actually logical. I've never thought of it before." Hiroshi replied

"Me neither. I've seen the face of some Abyssals, and those kanmusus. Some looked quite similar to each other. So I speculated that they also bear the souls of those warships as well." Arthur conjectured.

"But if so, can a ship's soul be embodied twice?"

"No, but there are rather two parts to a soul. A good and bad one. The reason for this is because the warships back in the days died in a violent manner. In other words, killed. So the souls of those warships carried a grudge, and it grew more and more malevolent over time. The only reason why we didn't call out those souls was because they were already called…The souls that we called were the good ones that remained."

"That's interesting…But how do you know all of that?" Hiroshi remarked.

Mai took a moment of pauses before continuing, with a distant look in her eyes.

"The theory was written by my older sister, Professor Yumiko Hayashi of Archaeology. She was a true pacifist, and a firm believer that the rise of those Abyssals is the result of human's act of war. She published this theory a few years ago, but wasn't well-received by the general public."

"Why?" Asked Arthur.

"Because it sounded unrealistic. There isn't much evidence to support it. So people couldn't come to believe it."

"But do you?" Hiroshi asked.

"What?"

"Do you believe in it?"

Her gaze were headed elsewhere for a while.

Her sister.

She is stubborn, and hardcore. A person hard to believe, even for her as right.

But still, she isn't wrong either.

One of her hand held onto the other, as her look returned to meet Hiroshi's

"I do. I believe my sister…because I'm also a pacifist, like her."

"But then you joined the military."

"Well, can't a pacifist support the country's armed force? We are against war, but if war is inevitable, you have to pick up the guns and fight." She retaliated with a criticizing tone

"Alright alright. We get it. Now should we return to where we left?" Arthur interrupted, so that things wouldn't turn into a ruckus.

"So we'll have to burn them?" Asked Hiroshi for confirmation.

"It's your choice. But if you are going to abandon the island to the Abyssals, it is likely that they will be burned after all." Mai answered

"Fine, then we'll have to prepare a bit tonight, and then the rest tomorrow. It'll be a long day." Arthur said

"We should have a head-start now. Otherwise we won't have time for the Christmas campfire tonight." Hiroshi said.

"Agreed." They both approved in unison.

"Then after the enemy attack our right flank, the left flank will launch an attack to cut through their centre, overwhelming their entire left. Then the rest of the fleet will turn back and surround the rest of them."

"But for a battle this big, we'll need a great deal of communication. Can you ensure that?" Arthur said.

"No worries." Mai joined in. "Hiroshi's diversion of the main fleet into smaller miniature fleets makes it much easier, since the role of the main communicator is lessened by the role of the commanders of each individual's fleet. In simple terms, instead of having to inform everyone in the main fleet, the radioman only have to contact the commanders, which will inform the rest of the fleet of the current situation. This makes sure that no fleet is over 12 hours sail away from the other. It's a tight and very flexible system."

"You understood that pretty deeply. Yes, and you don't spend a lot of time dividing your fleets again. You can detach, replace and combine forces more easily." Hiroshi seconded.

"That's amazing." Arthur said.

"One last thing: the order of battle. The defence of the right flank shall be given to you Arthur, since you are the master of defensive art here. While I and Mai will lead the decisive blow against the enemy. The command of the smaller fleet shall be given depending on your choice. Choose the one most competent for the role."

"Roger." They again said simultaneously

"We will take three-fourth of the initial forces with us. You will commandeer your Air fleet, along with 51 active kanmusus. Your only objective, Arthur, is to hold out and survive, until we retake Noman."

"Alright."

"For us. Our advantages over the Abyssals is agility, which is useful in close quarter combat, and better communication. Our disadvantages are inferior gunmanship, due to lack of combat experience."

"Then we have to close their distance as fast as possible without sustaining much damage." Mai said. "I suggest forming into the double line formation, a long double line formation. The front row is the most heavily armoured."

"That sounds viable. Then once we break into their line, it's each individual's work. If they break formation to intercept ours, we break ours, and counter them. For each of their ships breaking formation, we send the equivalent numbers against them."

The short but concise explanation earned a nod from Hiroshi's two co-commanders. They didn't need detailed instructions. They were intelligent and flexible enough to know what to do.

"Sounds simple." Arthur commented.

"It is simple. That's why they won't see it coming." Hiroshi replied, with yet another soaring confident smile.

That confirms it.

One more battle.

Just one more.

No more, no less.


	19. Chapter 19: Christmas Eve

**Disclaimer:** **Kancolle and all its characters belong to Kadogawa gaming. All credits should be given to their respective owners**

* * *

Chapter 19: Christmas Eve.

1800

Noman Island

The port's ground was buzzling with activities, despite not as crowded as with the 12000 soldiers at Saoux. The reason for that is simple. Tonight is Christmas Eve.

"People just want to have breaks between all the fighting and such."

You couldn't deny it, not when you have seen the face of the ship girls.

They were nothing different from just-bloomed flowers, bright and cheerful, under the dim light of the setting sun. Some were ecstatic and squealing from the excitement of the upcoming campfire, a few were silently enjoying the sweet, delicious odour of the food, others were sitting silently with their beloved ones. They didn't know what fate would bring them in the days to come. Would it be victory? Defeat? Death? Glory? They knew it was useless worrying about those things. Everything in the future shouldn't be known before-hand. Tonight is Christmas. It is best to enjoy it to the most.

"Thank you for your hard work." Hiroshi said to the main cook of the event, super-battleship Yamato, who had just finished her shift for the Christmas night.

"It was exhausting, but really fun. I got to help cheer up a lot of people." She replied as she wiped away a sweat from her temple.

"Your shift is probably the busiest, since this is the time people get together and enjoy a wonderful dinner."

"You're right. But still, it's over now. We can enjoy the Christmas night now."

"Hmm." He nodded. "You look sweaty, do you want something to drink?"

"Oh, thanks."

There was a long line in front of a stall, which seemed to be managed and ran by the entire Fubuki-class, and so Hiroshi stood behind it, intending to buy both so that Yamato doesn't have to line up.

Yamato called for a soft drink, while her Admiral only wanted cold water.

"The weather here isn't as cold as Japan, isn't it?" Commented Yamato.

"You bet. But it's still chilly comparing to those countries in South East Asia."

"You've been there?"

"Once, it's around this time 4 years ago, during the Indochina campaign. I've served at Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and then finally Philippine."

"Wow, that's amazing." She looked at him in awe. "You seem to be knowledgeable about all kinds of things."

"Oh please. I never finished high school to begin with. Those knowledge are all obtained through 6 years of travelling and fighting for my life."

"But still, it's quite a lot for someone your age. Most intelligent Admirals that I know aren't as young as you."

Hiroshi laughed, with slight vanity.

Intelligent. He got that a lot. But not once from a girl.

No sooner than Yamato opened her can of soft drink was there a man bumping onto her, causing her to drop the can, and lose her balance.

In an instant, Hiroshi took a step forward, his hands held onto her two shoulders, his right arm supporting her entire body, stopping the falling momentum.

"Ah…thank you, Admiral." She had to take a few seconds to register what was going on.

But as a result, the can dropped to the ground was crushed by the step he took.

"Oh, I'm sorry." The man bumping onto her gave an apology, but didn't take any action to help, and walked away.

"Oh dear, I barely get to drink." She said, with a smile, but Hiroshi knew she was a bit regretful.

"Here, I still have half of mine. It's quite cold."

"It's alright. Thanks." She gently took the bottle from his hand.

She took a gulp, slowly drinking most of the remaining contents, leaving a little bit behind, as a polite gesture. Afterwards, she gave a light gasp.

"Is this ionized?"

"Yes, plain but nutritious."

On the contrary, he isn't plain at all.

"Ah!" She suddenly gave a squeak.

"What is it?"

"Oh. It's nothing, really…Hehe" She scratched her hair gently, with a cute and silly smile on her face.

But nevertheless, what Yamato realized made her cheeks reddened.

The fact that she and Hiroshi shared a bottle of water is nothing different from an indirect kiss.

But he didn't seem to notice.

He isn't the type to care about that anyway.

"Ok…" He noted

But he is the type to pay attention to emotional changes.

"Come on, there is a food stall up ahead. It's rice noodle." She pointed at the stall, consisting of a long table with plastic pipes that formed into a rectangular frame that looked similar to a stall, with a cheerful look.

"Again? Well, your choice."

The two of them sat down nearby, and ordered two rice noodles, one normal and one mega-large type.

"…That's 30 dollars for all." The waiter, who is also a soldier, said, with a shocked face as Hiroshi placed the mega-large bowl, which is a large soup bowl, in front of Yamato.

 _'_ _That's a cheeky price. They're taking advantages of this.'_

"I'll pay, as a return to your pay last time at Yokosuka." The super-battleship offered.

"Really? Thanks."

He's broke. Not a good time for gentlemen act at all.

"There's one thing that I wanted to ask. How do you ship girls consume so much at once and still look the same." Asked Hiroshi

"That isn't a nice thing to ask a lady. It's a secret." But it was met with a scold from her.

His lips quirked in dry amusement, and mild petulance

"You don't have to be judgemental about it. If you don't want to say it, then don't."

"A girl's appetite shouldn't be asked unless we are…close or anything."

"Now you care about politeness. I thought we agreed that we don't need to be polite when we are alone."

"But there are some common sense stuffs that we shouldn't ask each other. For example, a lady's age and appetite."

 _'_ _Well sorry for losing my touch with reality.'_

"But if you want to know. I won't kill your curiosity." But then a gentle smile crossed her face. She really is a kind one after all.

"You've already killed it. I guess I'll leave that as a secret to another day."

"…Sorry…" Her head hung low, as she looked at him, like a small puppy.

Such a cute face. It would make even those was right realize they were wrong.

It wasn't until he looked at her that he realized how his irritation has gotten to her.

"Well don't let it get to you." Hiroshi apologized.

A few minutes passed by in silence.

"I almost forgot! I have to buy a Christmas present for Yahagi."

"I'm not sure if there are souvenirs sold here. This food stall is probably the only place that charges consumers. Then I think you can go into the woods and find some flowers for her."

"What kind? I want to hear your advice."

"Advice?" A ghost of a bitter smile hallowed his lips. "I don't have any. I think any kind is fine."

"It's a bit too simple. A wrong type could have different meanings."

"…Roses…maybe." He took a long pause, just to come up with one bad type.

"Admiral, girls don't give each other roses."

 _'_ _Then what do you expect?'_

From a person who spent six god-damn years in the military. He had his career to take care of.

"Don't ask a guy who has never given a girl presents before in his life."

"But I think you should study more about it. Someday, you'll be falling in love and get married. You have to prepare for that."

 _'_ _Really?'_

"That concept hasn't crossed my mind yet. And even so, I won't have much time for it. I have a war to win, and I'm very much needed. Now…" Hiroshi changed the subject. "How about I give you something and you'll pass it onto her?"

"That…doesn't look much like a gift from me, more like from you." She was slightly hesitant. She had indeed forgotten about it, due to the period of battles going on recently

"Let me ask you one thing, did you really forget buying it? You should've prepared that by now."

"…Hai…" She admitted.

He was right on spot

Quite a perceptive person he is.

"Well, then there's no reason to refuse, isn't it? I mean, you probably don't want to go into the woods this late. Remember the poisonous snake I killed?" His voice suddenly sounded haunted.

It really got to her, as she gulped with a frozen spine.

"Ok, I'll take it up."

"We'll take our time."

They both left the food stall at the same time, heading to Hiroshi's personal cabin. On their way, they passed by and strolled by a concert, which Naka is performing. As usual, she is surely attracting and melodious for everyone to be hypnotised by her singings. Unlike the young Admiral here.

"Crowds, I don't usually like it." He commented.

After a while walking, they finally reached the cabin.

Hiroshi opened the door, as he and Yamato walked inside. He walked to his small desk, and grabbed his stack of books.

Placing it in the middle of the desk, he looked through some of it, which is only three by the way.

 _'_ _Hmm, where's the photo?'_

He eyed down, then around the room, surveying for it.

 _'_ _No one would bother looking at it, right?'_

He wished.

"How about taking this? My favourite book."

Yamato came next to him.

"'Last night, I dreamed of peace'. What is that?" She inquired

"A diary of a young, 'lonely girl filled with unanswered dreams and hopes'."

"That sounds a bit cheesy. It doesn't seem like your type at all."

"It's not what you think it is. It's an interpretation of what I wanted to show you. I am not intentionally injecting you with it, but at least you can understand what we feel, and do your duties better."

"Hmm…by the way you say it, it gets quite interesting. Do you mind if I read it as well?"

"It can be a book for two. Reading together with her isn't a bad idea."

"Ok, someday."

Hiroshi passed her the book, which she took, gracefully.

"By the way, how's the campaign going?" She asked

"I'm in high spirits. It's going to be one memorable campaign."

"You said that you would be sweeping to Midway soon, when will we be doing it?"

"I told you, soon. I can't tell the exact time now, since a lot happened, but I can tell you, once we finish at Okinawa, our initiative at the Pacific will be regained, and retaking Midway shall be a much easier task."

"Okinawa…huh…" She said, her eyes distancing away.

Okinawa.

Her former resting place.

A monument of Japan's final defeat in World War II

And the fall of Japan's symbolic warrior.

A warrior who only stood in battle twice.

A warrior who was treated nothing but luxury.

A warrior who was mocked because of her superior's decision.

And a warrior that was never once looked at as she always was.

"I don't like the sound of it." She muttered

"I know you don't. So if you don't feel like participating-"

"It's alright! I can still do this fine! It's just…I'm quite nervous when coming back to a place that I once sank."

Also the place where her 7 out of 10 fleet-mates were lost.

It was a pain not just for herself, but also for a part of her that is reserved for those dear to her.

Hiroshi looked at her, solemnly but not unsympathetically, examining her expressions. For her only, he extracted his hand, directing her chin, her gaze towards his.

"Look at me. And answer me truthfully."

Her face flushed red in an instant.

"How did you do when you first fought under my command?"

"…Ok, I think."

"How did you feel?"

"…I feel…"

How did she feel?

How come she never consider it?

"Fine." Hiroshi answered it for her, with a certain voice. "You may never have noticed it, but I can see it clearly. You want to prove yourself as a ship girl, to do your duties well. That's a usual perception of things."

He paid attention to her.

"So, you don't have to be worried over anything."

He read her expressions perfectly.

"Just perform well. And trust my strategies. You'll be alright."

He calmed her down her every time she worried herself.

It is so reassuring. To be with him.

"Now shall we go outside? I don't want to be sedentary during these times."

"Hai!" She smiled again. He never failed to bring back her usual cheerfulness.

Before night actually befall on the island, the two of them had spent hours sauntering around the island, enjoying the food that was cooked by those who had shifts after her.

The concert ended just before 2000, with everybody, even Naka, satisfied. Overall, the Christmas celebration ended quite as planned, with only the campfire being the last activity of the event.

But before that, there are less than 2 hours to prepare it.

2 hours of boredom, for some.

"Arthur!" Hiroshi noted the sight of his British friend. Walking next to him surprisingly wasn't the girls of the 6th DesDiv, but a young cheerful blonde, dressed in an elegant…, her hand holding a cudgel that looked like a ship's mast.

"Good evening Hiroshi, why aren't you at your cabin? You aren't the type to like crowds." Arthur said.

"How long have you known me?" Hiroshi immediately shot an agitated response. That guy was clearly joking. He never changes.

"Hehe, you have one massive reservoirs of subjects that I can make fun of." Arthur replied, with his usual carefree grin.

The blonde next to him, and Yamato both giggled, while Hiroshi was the only one not amused.

"That aside, may I ask who this is?" Hiroshi changed the subject.

"This is Warspite, one of the British kanmusus under Mai's command. Warspite, this is Admiral Hiroshi Lanne, the third and main mastermind of this operation."

"Nice to meet you, Admiral. I've heard a lot about you from Mai." She said, pronouncing several words in perfect English accent, earning an interested look from the JSDF's Admiral.

"A pleasure. I hope to be working effectively alongside you." They exchanged a handshake.

"May I ask who this is?" She tilted slightly to the left, looking at the super-battleship behind her.

"Senkan (Battleship) Yamato, it's a great pleasure to meet you."

"Ya-ma-to. Aren't you that legendary battleship?" Warspite exclaimed, her minds harbouring a huge number of questions of interests.

"Yes, please don't be too excited." Yamato replied.

"Back in the days, I've heard people talking about you, a grand battleship. I've always wanted to have an encounter with you, but unfortunately was never given a chance. Now, having met you today, it is really a great pleasure." Warspite continued, with great politeness.

 _'As grand_ _as always, Yamato.'_ Hiroshi noted, as Warspite enthusiastically shook hand with Yamato again, while his own subordinate being passively shy.

"One little thing that I wanted to inquire, why didn't I see you at the port earlier today?" Arthur asked Warspite, with curiosity.

"I was a bit late. I have to stay behind for a few hours to help my fellow destroyers. They are such clueless little angels."

"I could say the same with my case. The girls that I got to know with recently is pretty much the same. They kept clinging onto me."

"But why aren't they with you now?" Asked Hiroshi.

"I don't know. Maybe they wanted to play alone."

 _'_ _Alone?'_

"And you left them unattended."

"Come on. They're old enough."

That cannot be good.

"What's wrong?" Arthur noted his friend's long, worried sigh.

"Listen, those four have a record of demolishing a whole section of my base with explosives."

"Explosives…" He was hard-pressed to keep his jaws in place, as looked at his friend nodding with firmness.

"Because there was a gap between actions and such. So most of them have to rely on their leisure activities to keep them occupied. Some…have creative hobbies."

"Like?" Asked Arthur

"Making bombs."

BOOM!

A deafening explosion roared in the direction of the woods.

The four figures turned around, to see a long strand of white smoke soaring into the sky.

At one end of the strand was…something like a large tin bottle.

After reaching its peak, the bottle began to fall down. Its trajectory, as predicted by Hiroshi, is set to fall into the celebration currently going on.

But before it could reach the ground, the bottle burst into thousands of small pieces, leaving in its place yet another explosion, and then a grey smoke cube, dispersing slowly in thin air.

"Now bottle rockets? Tell me, how do they obtain knowledge about aeronautical engineering?" Hiroshi's question struck Arthur silent. He was asking him, having an intuition that he was the main causes.

After a period of uncomfortable stare-downs, Arthur finally admitted.

"Ok, I did teach them a few things about physics and chemistry, since they were so studious and eager to learn."

"Then teach them the rules of not testing explosives in crowded places." Hiroshi snapped as he turned away on his heel.

"Where are you going?" Asked the three of them.

"To stop them. If somehow another rocket falls onto the forest section that is being prepared to be scorched, or anywhere else that has people, you'll take full responsibilities for the damage it causes." He finished, as he stormed off, with a quick agitated pace.

"He really is austere. His aura that moment is terrifying" Warspite whispered to Arthur, in which he rolled his chocolate brown eyes.

"You don't say. But once you get to work with him, he isn't that bad, considering that you don't mess his orders up."

"…Sounds pretty hard. But I couldn't say that much yet…Well I guess I'll check out the Fusou-classes. Their beautiful and unique superstructure, there is a lot to learn."

"Alright. Have fun." Arthur waved her goodbye.

She departed, after taking a last look at the British commander, leaving the two of them alone.

Yamato suddenly jerked her hands, after she noticed something folded in her pocket.

It is the photo from one of Hiroshi's books.

She found herself taking it out, unfolding it piece by piece and then staring at it.

 _I had said that I would ask someone._

But the problem is who should she ask?

Common sense would scream to her that it is best to go for the person with the closest relationship.

"But I have never met anyone close enough to know it."

His background is so…

His family?

Hiroshi had never even mentioned anything about his family, so finding a relative would be impossible.

Or maybe his friends.

The only name that comes to mind…

"Vice-admiral?"

Is Arthur.

"Please, call me Arthur." He replied casually.

"Yes…Arthur-san. Is it alright if I ask you a few questions?"

"Sure, anything for a beautiful lady."

"How long have you two known each other?"

"You two? You mean Hiroshi and me?"

Yamato nodded.

"Well, 5 years now maybe. But we only work with each other for 3, since the last two years I had to return to England for my medical inspection and some other stuffs."

"5 years huh? I guess it would not help after all…" Yamato closed her eyes, with a discouraged face.

"What do you mean by that?" Then he noticed the photo in her hand. "What is that in your hand?"

"Nothing. It's just a photo."

"May I see it?" He asked.

 _It wouldn't hurt, will it?_

Yamato handed him the photo, and he took it.

His expressions gloomed in an instant.

"How did you get this?" Questioned Arthur.

"I coincidentally found it inside one of his books."

"Does he know?"

She shook her head.

"There he goes again." Arthur sighed heavily.

"Goes what? Do you know the girl in that photo?"

"…I do." He took a long time struggling to utter it. "She is Hiroshi's little sister, Yuina."

Yamato's eyes jerked suddenly, as being genuinely astounded by this revelation.

"The Admiral has a little sister? Why does he never mention anything about this?"

"You can't expect him to talk about it. Because…" His face suddenly welled up with sadness.

"Because?" She had a very sinking feeling about this.

"She's dead…"

Her palms instinctively brought up to her soft, pillowy lips, as her eyes widening and staring at particularly nothing, blinded by the new information.

That sinking feeling soon turned into a myriad of emotions.

Shock.

Sorrow.

Grief

And guilt.

"I-Is it true?"

"That's what he believed. She was killed during an attack on his home island. He said that her name was on the fatality records, but her body was never found." His voice was full of sorrows

 _I can't believe it. I didn't know…he had been through that much. And yet he is being our pillar of support._ Were the thought running through her mind, as her eyes teared up slowly.

A damaged, but strong pillar.

"But how did you know so much?"

"I was like you, finding out everything by coincidence. He also put this picture in a book, and then forgot about it. I discovered this when I borrowed it, and can only draw the info out of him through constant naggings. I didn't mean to go that far, but after seeing his unusual, and sometimes ruthless, actions, I figured that I have to do something." Arthur reminisces

For the success of the campaign.

For the morale of his troops.

And more importantly, for the subordinate he always knew and trusted.

"I don't know whether you should confront him about the photo. But…"

For his sake.

"You should be honest with him, to help him. Only that could bring down the mask he unconsciously made for himself to live behind."

That is the only thing he hasn't managed to complete.

"I will." She answered.

Yamato at first wasn't sure what to say, but eventually her thoughts and Arthurs become one.

It is to be his most trusted support, his most loyal allies.


	20. Chapter 20: Castling

**My apologies for the one month lull in the updates. Lots of things happened. Final tests just passed, my old computer broke down and I have to recover those files again. It took quite some times. During so, my writing quality has degenerated quite a bit, so I'm sorry.**

 **Anyway, thank you all for the support all these times, I really thought I couldn't have made it this far without your encouragement. And I'll try to update as soon as possible**

 **Disclaimer:** **Kancolle and all its characters belong to Kadogawa gaming. All credits should be given to their respective owners**

* * *

Chapter 20: Castling

The night flew like an arrow, by the time he realized it, it is already morning

"I'm not up to that anymore." He sighed in resignation as he glanced at the clock. It says 0930. Not knowing how long, but he instinctively knew that he was late.

He had said yesterday that the fleet would depart the next thing in the following morning, but everybody knew that he wouldn't be able to wake up that early. The only exception is probably before a huge event that require his attendance.

But even so, somebody was supposed to be here to wake him up.

He didn't cross out the chance that they gave up trying to do so, but the chance is highly unlikely, not for a general like him.

After spending a few minutes getting dressed, he opened the door of his cabin.

"Good morning Hiroshi, I figured that you had a very good sleep." A voice full of sarcastic remark was noted. The only one capable of doing so while addressing the admiral so informally is…

"I'm inclined to agree." Hiroshi replied with the same manner

Arthur.

"Where's everyone?" Hiroshi's voice returned to his normal solemn state.

"They're still preparing. It is going smoothly but it took longer than we expected."

Hiroshi nodded in understanding. No wonder they didn't call for him.

"You should pack up now. It's nearly ready" Arthur said.

"Alright. Oh, and remind the kanmusus to check each other's attendances. They should all be ready by the time I arrive."

"No problem."

He departed immediately.

'It shouldn't take long.'

His personal hygiene equipment, his clothes, uniforms, some paperwork, and some books. All fitting a single backpack.

By the time he was finished, the room was stripped clean of every scent of human presence. Only the bamboo chair, desk, and bed were the marks of it, laying bare on the floor made of wooden planks. But he wasn't ready to leave yet.

'Where the hell is my photo?'

It's clearly not in this room, as it is already as naked as the eyes.

He did a recheck among his belongings, but it could not be found.

"That means…"

Someone has taken it.

But who would care that much about it?

No, more importantly, who was the one that took it?

In his recollection, he remembered three individuals who entered and left the cabin

Mai, Arthur and Yamato.

'Mai was only here once, during the planning phase. And she was far from my books all the time. Arthur too, and he has no reasons to take it away. He saw it already."

That leaves only…

"I'll confront her about this, later."

He left the cabin with this in his mind.

* * *

"Sir, your new command ship has arrived, as you requested."

"Thank you, Nagato."

The first thing Hiroshi registered in front of him was a huge armoured cruiser painted in grey, its body bearing the flag of the proud Japanese Navy. It wasn't really his usual taste, but considering that he will be at the front of the attacking column, he will need at least a durable ship for the task.

"Good morning sir!"

That active voice, coming from the destroyer itself, was somewhat familiar.

A man walked out to the ship's deck, revealing to the Admiral his identity.

Major General Yamada Senichi.

The one in charge of the Saoux elite infantry corp.

"It's a great pleasure working with you again sir!" He uttered loudly as he stepped down from the destroyer, hand raised in a shaking gesture.

Hiroshi was genuinely surprised at his sudden appearance. He obviously didn't call for him.

Now that he is in this, he couldn't possibly reject his help now.

After all, he's not as bad as he once thought.

"Likewise. I hope you won't hinder my plans." They exchanged a handshake.

"You can count on me sir!" He gave a thumb-up, cheerily.

"Good." Hiroshi nodded, as he looked around the docks, counting heads as he did so. Seeing most of the people are present and accounted for, Hiroshi proceeded to board the new cruiser.

Picking up the transceiver, he connected it to everyone else's, and delivered a fleet-wide transmission

"Good morning all ships. Today we'll be heading towards an island, a few hundred kilometres from here. It will serve as our main encampment for our naval fleet here during the Okinawa campaign." He picked the words carefully, for there may be a chance that the Abyssals may intercept and overhear the signals.

"We will depart in a few more minutes. Estimated arrival time shall be 1300."

He put down the transceiver, and headed out to the deck, to see if everyone is ready. He saw every last of the ship girls and naval cadets rushing to the port, in a hurry.

Standing near a British ship, Arthur was making sure that everyone is ready to leave. Hiroshi immediately made a questioning hand gesture, making the 'is it ready?' question. Checking the list again, Arthur gave a thumb-up.

Everything is finally ready.

Soon enough, all turbines were online, roaring powerfully. The fleet began to move.

Before the island was out-of-sight, huge orange flames, and a pillar of thick smoke could be seen as they looked back.

* * *

While Hiroshi and his Prime Fleet was fighting over Okinawa, a meeting was being held back at Yokosuka between the head of the Japanese Ministry of Defence, Kuro Shimizu, and three other commanding officer.

"The cost is another 30 tons of fuel." One of whom, Commander Sato, presented Kuro a report, which he held it with a sigh.

"That admiral Lanne is eating up all of our resources as tributes. Why would he spend such a huge amount for a bit of recon?"

"He said he needed a full overview," The second officer, rear-admiral Takeo, said in support. "which, although a bit much, is necessary."

"Necessary? Now we have to reduce our movements over the Sakhalin region because of lack of fuel."

"I agree. He spent all that resources only to put his fleet into a one-against-two situation. Non-tactility has its limits you know." The last one, a major general, spoke out as he sat with his legs crossed, his hands cupping in front of him in an authorised posture, mocking the current commander of the Okinawa campaign.

"You're the one to talk admiral. Didn't you once leave your troops to die a month before?" Takeo countered the sarcastic admiral with another one.

"I wanted to retreat, but he forced me not to, so I have to leave on my ow-"

"Enough." Kuro cut off the two of them. "Your demotion is justified, no matter how much you protested. He was still your commanding officer at that time, so your disobedience, in any means, is wrong. You cannot say it like it was his fault."

In mild petulance, he was silenced, his arms crossed in front of his chest, knowing that he couldn't talk back to him

"Back to the topic, the reason I called you three today…is to discuss the new weapon."

"Weapon? You mean?" Sato asked, his lips curving in curiosity.

"Yes. You're not allowed to leak this to anyone."

* * *

Asra, an island near Okinawa.

1600

Obviously, saying 1300, he did not really mean it. Always putting their fleet in the position that could always be overheard, he had to deceive even his own allies.

But in exchange, he and his entire fleet have to arrive wet as a mule.

There is a typhoon not far from there, and although it wasn't threatening to enter the island, heavy crosswind and downpour still made it difficult to dock.

Luckily, or having predicted, the island has some docking spaces, probably previously intended for civilian uses. From the looks of it, this seemingly beautiful tortoise-shell-like island was built as a resort for some upper-class citizens, but now, after years of ravaging, it is only the shadow of its former glory, standing exposed, soaked to this depressing downpour.

"Every buildings here are all shelled badly, this hotel is the best here." A soldier, after being pre-emptively sent to scout the island, reported to Hiroshi, as he and his two generals, Arthur and Mai, approached under the heavy rain.

"Enough for everyone?" He asked.

"I don't think so sir, even if you use the rest of the blocks. Some will have to stay back on the ships."

"That's fine. I want to change, I'm frozen to the bones here." Said Arthur

"If you want a hot bath, you should return to your ships. I don't think the water system would work considering the total damage." Mai replied.

"It's just a few floors. The whole structure overall is still pretty strong, so I don't think the water pipes would break." Joined Hiroshi

"Don't worry sir, we have prepared something especially for you." The soldier interrupted, as the three admirals looked at each other, then at him smugly.

"Then good."

"I'm bound to have fever in this wetness." Arthur growled, as he and his personal friend stood outside a particular room.

"Stand a little further from me, you smell disgusting." Hiroshi furrowed his eyebrows, as his eyes swung to his right to look at Arthur's mud-stained uniform. Arthur laughed, as he remembered the fall earlier into the muddy field.

"Don't blame me, it's slippery. But I can tell you, we'll miss the stench of this when we smell the stench of death, so be sure to enjoy it to the fullest." He joked, which Hiroshi failed to comprehend.

"If you wish, you be my guest." His eyes rolled again, as his eyes rolled to the left, licking his lips in dry amusement. This again, stirred a hearty laugh from the young British admiral, as he did what Hiroshi asked, taking a step away.

"You know, this reminds me of the first time we met." Arthur, after a moment of silence, uttered, with fresh memories reminisces in his mind.

After hearing it, Hiroshi flashed a small smile, a smile of nostalgia as he remembered that day.

"Taking shelter inside a house, under a heavy rain, with the soldiers. I can't believe it has been 5 years already. If my memory doesn't fail me, I remember you were only a commander at that time."

"And you were a major. And you were under my commands, now it's the opposite."

"Times change." Both of them shared a smile as good memories came and passed.

"But you haven't changed much." Arthur said, as Hiroshi looked at him, curiously.

"How?"

"You are as serious as always."

"Yeah…"

"And you are still a good teasable bastard."

"I'll kill you."

"See? You are easy to be angered. Like a child."

"Ok, then may I have the honour of kicking you out of this island?"

"Oh no. You shouldn't. Because you'll miss me."

"Yeah right." Sarcasm, as always. Before the two men could continue arguing, the door suddenly swung open.

"Your turn guys." The young commander of the European kanmusus, Hayashi, suddenly appeared, moistened, wearing a green Western house dress.

"What's in there?" Asked Arthur

"A herbal bath. Pretty comfortable and snug, I would say." She replied.

"You first." Arthur gestured Hiroshi, but he refused

"No, you first. Your asthma should be dealt with first."

"How nice. Well then…" He commented, as he disappeared into the bathroom. Another half an hour to wait.

That took pretty long for him, considering his impatient persona. When Arthur's finished, he finally had the chance to enjoy warming up his freezing cold body.

By the time he finished his bath, it was nearly dinner. Having guessed that his Guards would station themselves here, and among them was a great cook, he figured that he would find them at the dining hall, or some large room.

He wasn't wrong.

He found them in a large dining room, about a few dozen meters in width and length, with a small wall in the middle, separating the kitchen and the dining area. In the dining hall, which was to the left of the room, a long table could be seen with an array of wooden chairs, on it was an elegant pink table cloth, with bowls and curleries lining up beautifully. But luxuries weren't the definition of this. Covering the entire table were dusts, small piles of broken concrete. A part of the ceiling was missing, while the other parts were covered with mosses, in danger of collapsing any moment.

There, he saw his Guards, along with some others, who were trying to clean up their seats, and their cutleries from the dust that has been gathering for years. They obviously didn't know the feeling of eating in not so clean places.

But nevertheless, they gave him a welcoming look has he stepped in. They knew that he was trying to give them the best place possible, so none of them could really complain.

Hiroshi took an empty seat next to his two secretaries, and in front of his two best generals.

"Admiral." Nagato nudged his arm, as she passed him a piece of paper.

"What is this?" He asked before reading.

"It's the current report of the Abyssal's position from our scout planes. They have taken the bait."

Hiroshi read through it, and passed it onwards to his two generals to read.

"This will be over sooner than I thought."

Arthur and Mai read it altogether at once, as the British showed a genuinely surprised face.

"Ok, I know this would work, but I would never have expected it would work so quickly."

"I told you two my plan would succeed. They are utterly deceived. Now, we will crush them." Mai said with a puffed cheek, proudly.

"Where are they now?" Asked Hiroshi.

"They've just departed, as much as I remember. Without anything in resistance, they would probably arrive at Noman somewhere this time tomorrow, if they travel without rest." Mutsu replied.

"But they need rest, so probably the day after tomorrow, or the day after that. We'll need to decide where we want to fight them, so that we will adjust our departure time in according to that." Arthur said, as he handed back Nagato the report.

Then the three generals simultaneously looked expectantly at the battleship. She knew they were asking for a map, as she pulled out the map of their current region.

"We are here." She pointed at the screen, and then dragged her index finger away until it touched another island, with a different shape and sizes.

"And this is their expected position in two days to come."

"Arthur, what do you think?" Hioshi looked at his friend, who is also a master at positioning.

"They will be attempting to engage us in open seas. We will not let that happen." He answered, as he scanned the area carefully, and then finally zooming in on a group of 14 islands, islets and cays.

"There. This unknown region should be our perfect vantage point."

"Good idea." Mai complimented. "The islands would give us cover against Abyssal fires. It's the best place for defences."

"I agree." Joined Hiroshi. "Now if we fight there, to match the time of their arrival, we will have to depart at around…" He took a pause for calculation. "noon of the day after tomorrow. We'll brief them this by tonight."

The rest were quite in awe by his fast reaction.

"Are you sure? You come up with that pretty fast." Arthur said.

"No worries. Geography and mathematics are my expertise." Hiroshi replied.

"Well, if you say so." He relaxed, counting fully on his friend's judgement.

"Oh look! Our dinner is here!" Mai's expression suddenly changed, as the aroma of good food came to her.

Dinner was good as usual. It was no doubt it was that battleship was the one who made all of this. The meal went on quietly for the three generals, as they preferred not to talk while eating. And the girls around them respected that.

* * *

That evening, a certain number of ship girls were called back to the dining hall, including all members of the Guards.

"Thank you for taking your time here, but I need you ladies to be here to brief this." Hiroshi began. "Since there isn't enough places for the entire fleet, so I only called you all, since I trust your abilities as flagships."

As he said so, his secretary ship Nagato laid out the map she and Hiroshi both looked at that afternoon.

"Lean closer if you can't see." He took the central position where he could easily gesture movements on the map.

"This shall be our overall formation." He drew the formation he planned out the previous day. "I cannot emphasize enough its importance in this battle. The Abyssals will notice immediately this strange formation, but they will not fear us. They will have the confidence that comes only with greater numbers, and we will let them believe that."

Murmurs started to ripple from the flagships.

"The weak right flank shall position themselves concealed and covered among these islands, while the left will station a little bit behind. The order of battle shall be given at the end of this briefing, but I wanted you to know this. Those who will be at the right flank, you will certainly be attacked severely. But you will have to defend it with ALL you have."

His emphasis on the word had stirred worries and anxiety. Hiroshi noticed this, but continued nonetheless.

"The Abyssals will throw forward into our right flanks their full might. You may suffer very heavy damage once you encounter battle but you must hold your ground."

Their worries intensified, as they were truly doubting this kind of tactics. Knowing this, Hiroshi decided to continue forward.

"It is then that they will expose themselves, which we will swing our left flank towards their unsuspecting rear and center line. If this is executed perfectly, they will be unable to respond, and will be crippled. It is then that we will wheel around and cut them off completely."

At this point, they finally had a grasp of the situation at hand.

"The First Fleet will be at the right." But the atmosphere darkened considerably at that. "Vice-admiral Arthur will be in command there. The rest will form two long columns as we engage. The First Battleship Division will be at the front row, absorbing damage, while the rest stay behind. Try to line up as evenly as possible."

He finally gestured his ship girls to spread out, ending his stressful explanation.

Hiroshi then turned to look at every each of his beautiful maidens, with nurturing and concerning yet serious eyes.

"That is it for the explanation. Now some of you may have guessed the extent of of this campaign when I ordered almost everyone from the base to be present at this rustic island. The war will not end after this, but we will if we lose. If we lose, we have nothing."

For the first time, Hiroshi actually realized the stress and tension of participating in such a huge battle he placed on his girls. He rarely considered that before, since he rarely got to it. His confidence was soaring high, but somewhere in him, he was still afraid. Afraid of defeat, afraid…of failure.

"I know some of you are being doubtful or anxious about this, but as long as you do exactly as I say, it will soon be over. I fully believe in your abilities, and I cannot complain any further about it. Now, until the day of the battle, which will be 1100 the day after tomorrow, everyone will be released from duty. Take your time to rest, you will not want to enter this battle fatigued."

As he said so, the girls, with their spirits somewhat lifted, started to disperse, file out of the room, bringing the briefing to an end.

Also, at the other end…

"That is all. You are all dismissed. Lord William, please rebrief this to your men as well." Arthur also finished his briefing at his flagship, HMS Queen Elizabeth R08.

"Alright, that concludes all the details of the upcoming plans. Please be present at the port at the designated time. And finally…god bless us all." Mai ended hers as well, with silent prayers for every of her girls present.

For that moment, there was nothing else to do, aside from waiting for the upcoming battles to come.

* * *

Hiroshi found himself being visited that night at his own room, just he was preparing to go to sleep.

"Just who is it?"

He reached for the door and opened. His vision appeared a tall young girl in a pink night dress. There were many tall girls in his base, but her trademark auburn hair tied in a ponytail made it clear to him the identity of that particular girl he always knew.

"Oh, come in." He opened it widely for her to get in, as she smiled in return.

"What brings you here tonight?" The first thing he asked after he closed the door.

"Because…uh…" What seemed to be a mere simple question actually gave Yamato quite a hard time to find an answer.

…Why did she come here?

By some kind of forces, she ended up on her feet, walking to his room, without even a reasonable motive. And before she realized it, she was already there, as he let her in.

Was it somewhat related to what she promised to herself yesterday?

She wanted to be his support, to repair him, or at least take down the shell he made after everything he had experienced. She wanted to make up what she had caused to him, to see him happy. But she didn't even know what to do. After everything she did with him, it was surprising to realize that she didn't know what he really loved to do, aside from what seemed to be his routine activity.

She took quite some time to stop her stammering. Next to him, she didn't think she can lie. Even the most naive person could have seen through her words, not to mention someone perceptive like him.

"I…don't know. I guess I just wanted to see you."

That wouldn't be a good reason for him, judging by common senses when someone suddenly appeared in front of your room at night just to look at you.

But apparently, he didn't seem to mind that anymore.

A smile slightly appeared on his face as he nodded. That was already satisfactory for him. He had grown to be comfortable by her company it seemed.

"Since you're here, you probably don't want to sit around in boredom."

"I guess…"

"I found this chess set in the room earlier. You know how to play?"

"Yes…a little bit. Can you-"

She forced herself to shut up after that silly but instinctive question. He is a strategist, and a good one too. It would be stupid to say he couldn't play one simple strategy game like chess.

"Yes, of course." He brought the chess set next to her and gestured her to have a seat. After setting up the pieces, he rotated the board so that the white pieces were facing her.

Yamato made an appreciative face as she made the first move: a knight opening. Knowing this opening quite clearly, Hiroshi gave an answer almost instantly. In contrast, her response were considerably slow, as the game progressed.

The game went on fairly one-sided, but Hiroshi had to admit at one point having a hard time defending and neutralizing her attacks. He could not help but be curious.

"That's definitely not sub-par comparing to all those I've played. Where did you learn it?"

Yamato blushed at his compliment as she smiled.

"I played it on my computer…It was a good hobby to kill my time."

"That's interesting. I thought girls don't like these kind of games."

"At first I didn't think I would take up chess as a hobby. Just that my routine activity back then wasn't enough to cure my boredom." She looked down a bit, her smile remained as it was, but this time it held a different meaning.

"I have probably told you before about how I was kept in complete secret, right?"

"Yes."

"I was given almost everything. From all the luxuries to the best of the best living conditions. And to be honest, it was far from necessary…"

Her expressions gloomed slightly, her smile disappeared, which Hiroshi couldn't help being concerned.

"Aside from the sad feeling of not actually doing the roles intended for us, I got bored…and anxious. So I have to come to something to keep myself occupied, to dismiss those feelings I have in me."

"Anxious?" He asked, a little bit baffled.

"Yes, I was worried…that I would be treated the same way like back in the World War. I was scared…that someday they would throw me in front of them again, alone. And I would end up at the dark sea again, all by myself."

She picked up the black queen, which she captured from the previous match, her hands fiddling it, as she continued with a sad voice.

"Sometimes, I felt like this queen. I was powerful, too powerful that players were so afraid of losing me that they kept me behind all the times, and when it all came to an end, they would send me out just to die in vain to protect them from the inevitable checkmate."

A long and thick moment of silence hung around them as she finished.

Such a miserable comparison.

But it couldn't be blamed after all.

She was treated that way, twice. If he was her, he would feel no different. It was such a horrible fate that she had to put up with. He couldn't blame her. He could only muster his angers and vent it on those who made her this way, those kings that could not do their job well, leading up to a tragic checkmate for everyone of those pawns, those knights, bishops, rooks…and queens.

It took him a while to put his words together. He picked up the white queen, which he also captured from her, and placed it on the chess board.

"Do you know why they made the queen such a powerful piece, not the king?"

"No, why?"

"Because she was made solely to protect the king, her beloved husband, her master, made to destroy other pieces to bring victory and glory for him. There is a reason why almost all the time players choose the queen as a promotion piece for pawns."

' _Just like you.'_

"And that is why, those who cannot understand that, does not deserve to be her king."

She deserved more than being just a chess pieces.

Upon hearing those genuine words from the heart, Yamato's spirits were like being carried into the wind. She looked at him with one of the sweetest smile she ever had, in which he returned with a smile of his own.

"But why are you bringing this up?" Hiroshi asked.

"Ah…uhh…" She fiddled with her hair while giving a dry laugh. This question of his actually caught her by surprise. But she knew she couldn't lie to him now.

"I felt that not sharing this would be unfair, since I was shared a bit about you."

"About me? Wait…" He suddenly remembered the photo. "Arthur told you about me, didn't he?"

"Yes…" She gave up, resigning to the endless complaints that was soon to follow.

But surprisingly, it didn't.

He only sighed once, then his eyes locked with hers, his gaze unreadable.

"Just give it back."

Luckily, she had it with her, so she reached for her skirt pocket and handed it back to him.

He opened it, staring at it for a while, at his own self.

"Please, I don't have any bad intention when I took your photo. I…You are just too mysterious to us, I don't really understand you. So I wanted to know more about you, and to support you if you need it, and…"

His return gaze silenced her. It wasn't a pleased look, but he wasn't reprimanding her or something. There was something really difficult to understand behind just that one simple gaze of his. His complex personality was the reason behind it, and she wanted to tear it down.

"Thanks…" He suddenly said. She looked at him, puzzled.

"You are one of those who are genuinely trying to get to know me. I appreciate that, but please…I don't want to be looked at with pitiful eyes, not from a person like you."

A bad feeling started to rise from the pit of her stomach. His words struck her past actions deeply.

He wasn't wrong, not at all. It was difficult to admit this, but all the time, after hearing the nightmares of his past, she couldn't help but sympathize, and…pity his cruel fate. But then she thought without it she would be unable to understand him, to console him.

He had became to her as a pillar of support for all of us, but a damaged one. But he wasn't as fragile, as damaged as she thought. He was still affected, deeply, by his past, but he was surely a strong person. If she was him, she would have collapsed from all of that, from all the pain she would have to endure. But he withstood all of that, everything, and eventually became the one to share and console the pain of those he held dear to.

Hiroshi's simple wish was to have everybody understand him, to not look him the way he was usually looked at. That is why he always say 'you haven't seen everything'. Through his avoiding and painful reaction when he was questioned, it showed it all. And yet she couldn't see that.

She wanted to apologize, but it wouldn't help the situation right now.

"Sorry, I mean no offence." Hiroshi said.

"No, I should be sorry. I did see you that way. I wasn't thinking it through that much when I learnt about your past, so I could not help but feel sorry for you." She apologized, with a guilty face.

"As long as you realize that." He smiled slightly, so as to ease the tension.

It was such a difficult task. He was so complex that she found it hard to find out how to approach him, approach his soul. But now that she have accomplished that, she is now confident enough to share everything with him, to support him.

She returned the smile, as her mood once again was lifted.

"Do you mind another game or do you want to go back?" Hiroshi asked.

"One more, please." She answered honestly, as they rearranged the pieces again.

That night, some of the finest chess moves were played, clearing the storms inside the minds of the two of them.

* * *

 **Next chapter: The second battle of Okinawa awaits. Stay tuned!**


	21. Chapter 21: Battle of Coalitions

**Chapter 21 of General is here.**

 **It's quite a short one actually, but quite difficult to write. A battle scene really is a difficult one indeed.**

 **So after a while pondering whether to write the entire battle scene in one chapter, or split it into two, I had decided on the latter, as it increases the drama, a bit (I think so)**

 **So enjoy this short little chapter, which doesn't have any notes that requires an explanation. That saves a bit of times for you guys.**

 **Disclaimer: Again, I do not own Kancolle and all of its characters**

* * *

Chapter 21: Battle of Coalitions

December 27

The second of Okinawa has officially begun

On the cold December morning, each and every ship girls were present at the port of Asra island. Thanks to the one-day lull Hiroshi gave before the battle, they now at least have the time to mentally prepare for what is to come. Some had already departed beforehand, due to the the-earlier-the-better syndrome that a few of these ship girls had. But as those actions could prove benificial to the scouting effectiveness, Hiroshi simply let it pass.

"Don't forget anything, since we won't be coming back here."

Hiroshi did a check up on his Guards, as they wrapped up the rest of their preparation. Noticing how quickly his favorite radiogirl had packed up, he approached her for some revision.

"Keep in mind that battle communication in today's battle will be much more personal, since there isn't anyone we need to contact aside from each other. Limit the signal transmission to it."

"Yes sir. Everything is set." She replied.

"Very good. Since you are part of the attack group, you should remain at the back of the column. I don't want you to be severely damaged, since it would affect our communication line."

"Yes sir!" She saluted her admiral, before departing to meet up with her fleet.

* * *

The battle was to take place in an area 100 kilometers in width and length. Hiroshi had wanted blue skies and clear visibility for the best conditions to combat the superior Abyssal fleet, but reality wasn't what he expected. The sky was not in favor of his quest for peace, as layers after layers of grey cloud had blackened out the sun, the iconic symbol of victory for Japan.

Nevertheless, it didn't black out Hiroshi's recently bolstered spirits, with which he confidently gave the first order of the battle on his new destroyer flagship.

"Arthur's group had already departed. His scouting report would come to us at any moment. Now, we don't have to be too rushing for anything. First fleet, position yourself carefully among those islands. You don't want to mess this one up."

"Roger!" The voice of the first fleet's flagship, Ise, echoed through his radio.

"Arthur, keep those girls of mine safe." Hiroshi turned to contact his friend's flagship,

"Got it. Hope you can catch up with my pace soon enough." Arthur replied, as Hiroshi hung up the radio.

Arthur sighed calmingly, as he looked at the sky. Had his scouts returned yet? If not then what was their current status? He may looked so high spirited and calm on the outside, but deep down he was having a war with his own self, to keep himself intact, that he would not screw up once battle had been joined.

Two hours later, he stopped. That goes with the fact that he had encountered the enemy.

'Hiroshi's calculation is perfectly perfect…' The British vice-admiral muttered admirations as he watch his ships slowly taking cover among the islands. They arrived in just enough time to get ready.

"Sir, enemy's detected over the horizon!" His watchmen reported

"Commence launching aircraft." He responded, in which the planes were immediately taken into the air.

As the British aircraft and light aircraft carrier were launching planes, the Third Carrier Division also commenced assault on the enemy.

"I'm not signed up for this." Carrier Houshou growled as she was called back from her retirement, who unfortunately was also part of the defending group. Since the Admiral decided to focus more on the attacking group, which he said would play a decisive role here, in the end, powerful carriers were sent to the attack groups while light and outdated carriers were to belong to the other.

As she and her partner Zuihou released their arrows, 8 Type 0 fighters were spawned almost immediately, as they commenced to follow the British fighters.

Strangely enough, the Abyssals aircraft formation consisted of too many bombers and torpedo bombers, and they were too hasty to send it out early. Noticing some lonely enemy squadron, the Prime fighters gave them a few embraces, as they circled around them and steadily took them out.

Meanwhile, the Abyssal fleet still continued to move, closer and closer to the groups of islands, unaware of the position of the Prime Fleet.

"Battleships, prepare to fire. Destroyers, prepare your missiles."

To his order, the four Kongou class, the two Fusou and Ise sisters turned their broadside to the enemy. Slowly adjusting the lead to the enemy ships, they watched the Abyssals, one by one, entering their firing range. They decided to ignore the small and weak destroyers and instead focus their aim on the large and heavily armored cruisers and battleships. Before Arthur could actually deliver the order, Kongou decided to take the lead instead.

"BURNING LOVE!"

Following that, was a sound eradicating roar of forty 356 mm guns, erupting simultaneously. That salvo caught the Abyssals completely off-guard. The second column of ships, which consisted of Abyssal cruisers and several Ru-class battleships were wiped out completely.

"Dear God…" Arthur was hard-pressed to catch his own breathe as he just witnessed the most magnificent salvo he had ever seen in his life.

"Yes! I will show you what I'm made of!" Kongou puffed, as she punched her fist into the air.

But she had to wait for a bit longer. The firing had exposed their position, in which the Abyssals were quick to return the favor. Shells of both armor-piercing and high-explosives slammed mercilessly onto the unresponsive battleships, which forced them to cover themselves.

"Get back to those islands. It will give you enough cover. You're fast enough, go!"

They hastily rushed for it.

Through his binocular, Arthur also witnessed his fighters were getting caught up by the suddenly appeared bands of Abyssal fighters.

"Get out of there, we don't stand a chance against that many!"

His, Zuihou's and Houshou's planes also rushed back.

"Air-defense formation, quickly!"

* * *

On the while, Hiroshi and Mai's attack group had barely arrived in position. Half of the formation was missing, still behind, trying to catch up.

"Just in time." Hiroshi said, as he watched the Abyssal spreading out to attack Arthur's group.

"Admiral. The defending group is surrounded by their superior aircraft quantity. Shall we send back up?" Akagi flexed her bows eagerly, waiting for an answer.

"That will do, but a few squadrons only. They aren't aware of our presence. Sending out too much will make them suspicious." He replied, as the carriers nodded simultaneously and drew their bows.

"They are pouring almost every ships onto their location." Nagato said.

"Keep a close watch on their actions. Scan the area ahead with your recon plane, secretly." He answered, emphasizing the word 'secretly' to make them understand the importance of staying hidden.

"Yes sir." Nagato raised her left arm, as a spotter airplane took off. "Spotter airborne."

It flew to beyond the clouds, following the Abyssal's right flank, undetected. Less than 15 minutes later, the first report came in.

"An armored-carrier demon?!" Nagato's eyes that moment was as wide as a football. "And what?!"

Hiroshi was quick to notice her astonishment. He could have guessed what it was already, but didn't voice it out, waiting until she finished.

"What is it that makes you so surprised?" He did so once she hung up on the spotter plane.

"The enemy, there are an armored-carrier demon, one southern war princess and 5 escort fortresses presented in this battle."

"They're pulling a hard punch this time. From the looks of it, those two are the flagships of this operation. But well, as long as we have the information about them, we will be prepared for it." He switched his radio to fleet-wide transmission. "Our fleet will retire 3 kilometers south-west. Those who have not yet arrived, speed up!"

* * *

One destroyer column had entered the group of islands.

"Cruisers, break away from your position and engage the enemy destroyers. You must NOT let them get close to our carriers and battleships." Arthur ordered.

"Roger!"

"Dive bombers, 10 o' clock!"

You could curse him for saying it too late, as they had already innitiated bombing sequences. Four aircrafts dived to their targets, with one successfully hitting the huge flight deck, setting it on fire.

"Our deck is on fire!"

"Extinguish it, fast!"

The carrier retaliated, its anti air guns blazed the sky. The planes that managed to get through to innitiate the bombing were shot down instantly before they managed to retreat to safety.

"Hnngg!" Kirishima gritted her teeth in annoyance, as high-explosive shells relentlessly rained down on her and her sister ships, setting their clothes and their batteries on fire.

"That is enough!" All of a sudden, she removed her glasses, one len of which had already broken from the fight, revealing her bare naked goergous emerald pair of eyes.

"Kirishima?" Haruna turned to her, as Kirishima's expression held a very determined countenance to her front.

"4 enemy destroyers, wind speed 3." She carefully calculated, her 356 mm guns, turned to their own respective targets. Each of the guns were pointing in different directions and different angles, indicating the four different positions of its targets.

When the right time came, all four guns opened fire. The instant after that, the four unfortunate destroyers were blown up. That crossed firing was so accurately timed that despite in different places, the destroyers were wiped out almost simultaneously.

The column of destroyers that entered the area were neutralized, Arthur's group had pushed them out.

Noticing the dire situation of her underlings, the armored carrier demon decided to intervene. She, along with two escort fortresses moved up to the front, opening fire. To the witness of Arthur and all of his men, the shells had destroyed the stability of his formation in just a few minutes, fully demonstrating the firepower of a heavy aviation battleship

"Damn, I get the feeling that they are trying to drive us out of this place at all cost." Lord William Horatus, Arthur's co-commander and subordinate, stated.

"Ohhhh, you're only saying that because you aren't dead yet!" Arthur returned him with a statement full of sarcasm.

"In this pinch, we'll get wiped out if we let her in. I'll distract them for you."

He immediately ordered his ships to accelerate. His light carrier, along with three other destroyers slowly moved out of position, out of the group of islands entirely.

"All batteries, open fire!"

The shout echoed, as the guns blazed red. At the same time, his light carrier also launched its planes into the air, intentionally alerting the Abyssals.

Enemy fires were partially drawn into his group. His destroyers had to circle around to avoid damage coming to them.

His plan had worked

But his carrier was a lot less maneuverable. And there was a price for it.

One Abyssal battleship fired a full broadside. Several shells managed to hit his ship. The most fatal one sliced through his mast, where William and all his important crew members were manning the ship and the battle. Luckily, it hit below the main control room, so it didn't kill them instantly.

"Our captain is down!" But the shock of the explosion did take the carrier's captain out of the action.

"Don't falter! I'll be in command!" William raised his voice against his panicking men, his bionic hand reached for the radio tranceiver.

"When will he commence the attack?!" He almost shouted, as Arthur tried to pick the words to respond.

"Stay sharp Lord William, he will do so when the enemy's center is weakened enough."

"I know. Just…hurry!"

All of a sudden, his ships tilted again, as a salvo of near-miss shells crashed down on the area surrounding his carriers. Arthur looked around, to see his cruiser kanmusus under his command getting bombarded with firepower. One, who apparently looked like Furutaka , was hit by a torpedo, her clothes, cosmetics and weapons tattered. Another was struggling to get away from being cornered by Abyssal destroyers.

He could see the reason to William's concern. There was just too many. Currently, none of the ships are sunk, but moderate damaged ones are present. Casualties are mounting up quickly. And yet Hiroshi isn't conducting the move yet.

Arthur grabbed the radio forcefully.

"Hiroshi. We cannot hold out much longer!"

The defending group's position is extremely loose now.

"We got it, proceeding to assist you."

He hung up hastily, before Arthur could respond.

"Has everyone arrived yet?" He asked

"All, but one. The German Kriegmarine's battleships and cruisers are still approaching." Mai reported. "Maybe we should just…"

"No." He cut her off. "Not yet. Call for these German girls. Have them present at Arthur's position instead."

"Alright." She switched the radio to them. "Bismarck, abandon your current course and head for the islands, immediately."

"But we're already close to you. Why do you-" She responded in surprise

"You have to be there to assist the defending group, secure their defence. Admiral Hiroshi's order."

"As you wish." She cut off transmission, in doubts.

Mai could understand the tone of her voice. She was also incredibly anxious at the fate of Arthur and his group. They are already fighting with all their hearts, but it seemed to be not enough. There are too many, the odds are a little bit too much against us.

The other thing of her concern is her fellow colleague who isn't doing particularly anything but wait.

Half an hour later, another column of ships continued to come in. Anxiety were seen not only from the officers, but also the ship girls.

"Admiral, what are you waiting for?!" Maya shouted urges at her Admiral.

"Admiral, they have weakened another column to press the attack. Now is our chance." Yamato, who knew she was the one knowing him better than anyone, begged to him. But he didn't reply.

It isn't our chance yet.

Arthur's formation at one point seemed to break from the intense firepower of the Abyssals, but somehow, they managed to hold on, for a bit longer, only thanks to the arrival of Bismarck and her fellow ship girls.

It is more secured now, but still dangerous.

Hiroshi, who surprisingly looked calm, continued to remain idle.

Despite the all the arrival of the girls, but there were no orders issued

It isn't the time. The moment he has been waiting for hasn't arrived yet.

He was unusually patient, waiting in complete silence, despite the protests and urges from his men and kanmusus.

 _'Not yet.'_

By 1420, another column left the Abyssal center. And yet Hiroshi kept imposing on staying hidden.

 _'Not yet…'_

Finally, 1450, the moment he had been waiting for had arrived. Another column has left the center. Now it is weakened perfectly enough for him to smash it to pieces.

"All units, form the designated formation and advance!"

The long-awaited decisive order has been given.

All 142 ship girls, combining with a few conventional JMSDF's vessels, quickly formed two long columns. The heavier ones at the front, the lighter ones at the back. Mai's flagship, which is a heavy cruiser, was one exception, as it was placed at the front row. Hiroshi's destroyer was placed at the 7th row, which was also relatively exceptional due to its weak armor.

While the final rows were being formed, the two columns began to move.

To now, the Abyssals have been the one having the upper-hand. But that is about to change.


End file.
